ROTANA CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATE. ENGAGE.

ROTANA CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY
REPORT 2013 - 2014
EDUCATE. ENGAGE.
Table of Contents
2
About this Report
05
Message from our President and CEO
07
Our Company
Our Vision and Brand Promise
Our Values: Rotana Life
Our Global Portfolio
Our Growth and Expansion
Partnerships and Awards
11
12
12
14
15
16
Our Governance
18
Board Operation
21
Organisation23
Code of Business Conduct and Ethics
25
Our Sustainability Strategy
29
Our Vision
Our Goals
Our Approach
Our Stakeholders
Materiality Assessment
30
Our Guests
41
30
31
32
35
Satisfaction42
Innovation and Technology
45
Education and Inspiration
46
Heath, Safety and Security
47
Our Colleagues
52
Profile56
Engagement58
Learning and Development
60
Fair Employment
62
Welfare, Health and Safety
64
Our Environment
69
Energy70
Water72
Waste74
Materials75
Green Building Design
77
Biodiversity78
Our Community
83
Contribution84
Nationalisation91
Our Suppliers
95
Suppliers Assessment
Responsible Supplies
Local Supplies
96
96
98
Appendix A: GRI G4 Content Index
99
3
About this Report
4
01
Rotana Hotel Management Corporation PJSC is pleased to
present its second Sustainability Report that features quantitative
and qualitative data for the calendar years 2013 and 2014, with
additional data from previous years for comparison reasons,
related to material issues or notable information.
Scope and boundary
The reporting scope is global, unless otherwise noted for
situations or circumstances where reporting data are collected
and available only for a certain geography, business or issue.
The report covers all Rotana hotels, all four brands, 50 operating
hotels in the Middle East and Northern Africa region and their
material, economic, environmental and social impacts.
We report the progress of all Rotana hotels that have operated for
at least one year:
• Two hotels that opened within 2013 were not included in
2013 report data, as they had not completed a full year of
operations during this reporting period: Majestic Arjaan
by Rotana - Bahrain and Karbala Rayhaan by Rotana - Iraq.
However they were added in the 2014 report.
• In 2014, four hotels were removed from the company’s
portfolio, hence are not included in the report: Coral Beach
Rotana Resort - Hurghada, Coral Beach Rotana Resort - Tiran,
Coral Beach Rotana Resort - Montazah and Afamia Rotana.
Guidelines used
Rotana declares that this report follows the G4 Global Reporting
Initiative (GRI) Guidelines at Core level. The GRI G4 Content
Index can be found at the end of the report, in Appendix A.
Defining report content
The content of this document was defined using the
Sustainability Materiality Map that was based on three elements
to list and prioritise our material issues. The map relies mainly on:
• Sustainability Maturity Assessment results and scores
• The company’s sustainability focus areas
• Stakeholders’ expectations as defined by the company
The process was guided by the Group’s Corporate Sustainability
Committee and through a process involving internal stakeholders.
Details of Rotana Sustainability Materiality Map can be found in
the Materiality Assessment section.
Rotana reports on the G4 indicators that were relevant to our
business operation and where data is available for previous years
and more indicators that were measured in 2013.
While the report development was overseen by the company’s
Corporate Sustainability Committee and with the Abu Dhabi
Sustainability Group advisory, this second report was not subject
to an external assurance audit.
• Hili Rayhaan by Rotana - Al Ain, Sedra Residences by Rotana
- Qatar and Salalah Rotana Resort - Oman were opened in
2014, hence were excluded from the 2014 data report as they
had not completed a full year of operation.
5
Message from the President and CEO
6
02
At Rotana, we have long believed in continuously improving
on our services and offerings, making it worthwhile for guests,
colleagues, partners and stakeholders. After all, the long-term
success of any initiative lies in the health and prosperity of the
communities in which we do business.
In this, our second annual sustainability report, we have
briefly outlined some of the initiatives that the company
has undertaken to advance environmental sustainability and
strengthen our bond with our communities. It also highlights
the meaningful progress that we have achieved with our
sustainable priorities.
Last year, our theme focussed on ‘Respect and Protect’, with
an emphasis on people and how we can do our bit to make
a positive impact to our planet. But we also understand that
sustainability demands both a systematic perspective and a
cultural approach. Which is why, for this year, our theme is based
on ‘Educate and Engage’. It is a theme that encourages us to
integrate sustainable practices and principles across our business.
To that end, more than 125 initiatives have been implemented
across all of our hotels to better educate guests on the various
sustainable practices that we have introduced. And key to the
success of this campaign have been our colleagues who were
active partners in developing these programmes.
While our business has continued to grow and expand, I
am encouraged by the results that have come in this past
year. Our water usage has dropped by 9%, while we have
consumed 4.3% less of energy. We also generated 10.4% less
of waste in 2014 than we did in 2013. Responsible sourcing
also became standard practice whereby 23 products are
now environment friendly, while 83 imported products were
substituted with those locally produced. We have also raised
more than AED 2 million through 273 community engagement
activities that were implemented across our properties.
Looking ahead, and in keeping with the fundamental
values embedded in Rotana Earth, we have lined up two
major sustainability programmes for the coming year. The
first of these involves building on Rotana’s commitment
to ‘Responsible Procurement’, whereby we develop a
procurement code that is in line with our vision. The second
is to implement a ‘Stakeholder Engagement Plan’ through
surveys and targetted interaction, to actively engage with our
stakeholders, listen to them and respond to their concerns in a
mutually beneficial way.
At Rotana, we are continuously evolving to meet the
challenges and opportunities around us. At the same time, we
are also working hard to ensure that our fundamental values
do not change. We know that we don’t have all the answers.
On the contrary, we believe that, in today’s world filled with
great challenges and even greater opportunities, we must
work side by side with our partners, non-governmental and
government agencies and others.
Sustainability is at the heart of the hospitality industry. As a
business, we understand that sustainability efforts are themselves
only sustainable when they help our company grow and prosper.
Which is why it is important that we continuously inspire, create
value and make a lasting difference.
Omer Kaddouri
President and Chief Executive Officer
7
Our Company
10
03
Our Company
Rotana Hotel Management Corporation PJSC, based in
Abu Dhabi, UAE was founded in 1992 by a partnership between
two visionary thinkers, Nasser Al Nowais and Selim El Zyr, who
were joined three years later by Nael Hashweh and Imad Elias.
Operating under the brand name “Rotana”, it opened its first
property, Beach Rotana - Abu Dhabi in 1993. Today, it is one of
the leading hotel management companies in the Middle East
and Africa.
Rotana’s expansion plans have resulted in the company growing
from two properties in 1993 to a total of 48 properties in 2013
in 20 cities. By 2020, Rotana will be present in 21 countries. A
further 50 properties are planned for opening with new projects
in the pipeline, confirming the company’s intention to have a
Rotana managed property in all the major cities throughout the
Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia within the next five years.
The brandmark symbolises the palm tree, more specifically the
very rare palm tree, botanically named phoenix dactylifera, and
found only in Saudi Arabia
This brandmark was chosen because of the similarities between
the palm tree and Rotana. Found in a desert oasis, it provides
the nomadic Bedouin tribes food and shelter from the relentless
sun and at the same time an opportunity to socialise with other
visitors to the oasis.
Similarly, Rotana aims to provide its guests with high quality food
and drink, a safe and cool environment, a warm welcome and
a place to socialise and discuss the affairs of the day. Rotana’s
unique brand of hospitality is defined by the blend of warm
Arabian culture and strict international standards and expertise.
Under Operation
Human Resources
Brands
Operating properties
Total number of rooms
Number of cities
Total number of meeting rooms
50
12,769
19
322
Rotana Rewards Members
Total number of members
rotana.com
Number of rotana.com visitors
Number of bookings made
on rotana.com
72,363
5,500,000
61,000
Number of nationalities
Number of colleagues
Number of Duroob programme
colleagues
Food & Beverage
Operations
Number of outlets
72
11,000
246
3.5
5.5
Million rooms
nights sold
Million guests
nights
13
Million
guests
247
Total revenue
Number of
food covers
Million USD
Million
770.8
10
11
Our Vision and Brand Promise
To be the leading hospitality management company recognised
for its unique blend of world-class standards with genuine
hospitality and for its truly treasured experiences provided for
guests, colleagues and owners.
In today’s busy, pressured world, time is our most precious
commodity. How and with whom we choose to spend it is
perhaps one of the most important decisions we make in our
lives. At Rotana, we have chosen to acknowledge this fact by
embracing the challenge of making all time spent with us a
“Treasured Time”.
This means that we pledge to understand and meet the
individual needs of all who we deal with. In doing so, we strive
to continually build long-term relationships with our stakeholders
including our owners, our colleagues and, of course, our guests.
Treasured Time is Rotana today.
Our Values: Rotana Life
If one were to look back through Rotana’s history in order to
distill the essence of Rotana’s success, one will find it is based
upon enduring partnerships. At the core of these relationships
lie genuine friendships which have been built solidly over time.
It is these bonds that best describe who Rotana is. All those who
know Rotana, know that they have a friendship that will last for
a lifetime. It is a friendship based upon loyalty, one which will
continue to surprise; a relationship with integrity.
In order to ensure our brand is delivered with consistency and
integrity we have distilled a set of values that clearly represent
our character. Our team strives to live these values every day. We
call this, “The Rotana Life”. The word, LIFE provides us with the
acronym with which to remember our values.
Each of the four letters in the word, LIFE, are triggers or short
cuts to a value that together make up The Rotana Life.
We are committed to creating and nurturing lifelong relationships with our owners
and partners, colleagues and guests. We are focussed on delivering moments that will
be remembered for years to come.
We acknowledge that each one of our owners and partners, colleagues and guests
is different. We respond accordingly by striving to create new ways to meet their
individual needs.
We share a passion to serve and provide an experience that is genuine and above all
friendly. We always have time for our owners and partners, colleagues and guests, as
we would do for a friend.
We always treat our owners and partners, colleagues and guests with the utmost
respect. We act with integrity everyday, in each moment, in every way.
12
Beirut
Lebanon
Damascus
Syria
Erbil
Iraq
Kuwait City
Kuwait
Karbala
Iraq
Kabul
Afghanistan
Istanbul
Turkey
Amman
Jordan
Doha
Qatar
Salalah
Oman
Amwaj Islands
Manama, Muharraq
Kingdom of Bahrain
Riyadh
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Khartoum
Sudan
Makkah
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Sharm-el-Sheikh
Egypt
Abu Dhabi
Al Ain
Dubai
Fujairah
Ras Al Khaimah
Sharjah, UAE
13
Our Global Portfolio
Our five main brands: Rotana Hotels & Resorts, Centro Hotels by Rotana, Rayhaan Hotels & Resorts by Rotana, Arjaan Hotel Apartments
by Rotana and The Residences by Rotana, each offer the same impeccable Rotana service - excellence to our different target audiences,
be they leisure, business travellers or the local community.
To access our hotels and resorts directory visit rotana.com
Something for every type and level of traveller. The brand’s success is founded on its portfolio
of 4 and 5-star properties and on its ability to attract some of the most renowned names in the
restaurant world.
Rotana Hotels & Resorts are designed for those that love to explore. In cities and along coasts right across
the Middle East and Africa, these 4 and 5-star hotels and resorts are located right at the heart of the action
– be it for business or for leisure.
First-class residences, with an added personal touch, characterise Arjaan Hotel Apartments by
Rotana which have been developed with both long-term guests and families in mind.
Arjaan Hotel Apartments by Rotana are the pinnacle of the Rotana offering. They represent the height
of elegant city living for long stay residents and for families, set in some of the loveliest hotel apartment
buildings anywhere.
Centro meets the demands of a new generation of traveller, seeking finesse and functionality at
reasonable rates. Young and fresh, Centro is a lifestyle brand that is original in its presentation and
dynamic in its offerings.
Rotana’s budget lifestyle hotel brand, Centro, redefines the concept of economical comfort by offering
affordable, superior-class accommodation and hospitality with a stylish twist.
Rayhaan respects the beliefs and culture of our guests whilst fostering the image of a new Arabia
in today’s world. In Arabic, the word ‘rayhaan’ describes an aromatic plant which is mentioned in
the sayings of prophets within the Holy Quran.
The Rayhaan Hotels & Resorts might be the first alcohol-free hospitality concept in the region, but that is
far from its only unique selling point. These 4 and 5-star hotels and resorts distill every standard created for
the region’s best-in-breed luxury hotels.
The Residences by Rotana are furnished and unfurnished, non-serviced branded residential
buildings, architecturally designed using Rotana specifications and standards.
The Residences by Rotana are geared for longer stays and will focus on guests that are looking for a
permanent home within the country of residence.
“It’s the
determination, the
drive, the hardwork,
the integrity and the
vision, that have
made Rotana what it
is today.”
Selim EL Zyr
Vice Chairman
14
Our Growth and Expansion
Since its inception, the company has grown to become the
largest hospitality management company in the region, a brand
not only widely recognised but much admired. Rotana’s strategic
development is orchestrated by a team of professionals who
have exceptional international experience and a fundamental
understanding of the cultures and communities of the Middle
East and Africa. The impressive growth in the number of Rotana
properties under management is powered by a consistency in
‘getting it right’ the first time, every time. Indeed, the company’s
strategy is nothing less than to have a property located in every
country in the region.
This plan is under full sail. Rotana is managing an ambitious
expansion that will see our portfolio of operational properties
increase from two in 1993 to a target of 100 hotels by 2020.
Currently the company has 12,769 rooms already operational
and a firm pipeline of 50 properties are under development with
14,089 additional rooms to span 21 countries and 29 cities.
Growth and expansion*
Properties under development
55
Number of cities
29
Total number of additional rooms
14,089
Number of properties
98
Number of countries
21
Total rooms
26,858
Total food and beverage outlets
420
Total colleagues
20,000
The only way we can achieve this kind of growth is by offering
the best in Arab hospitality. This is delivered through our five
main brands. The development of these brands is rigorously
planned and meticulously managed across all our operations,
evoking the utmost trust and confidence among property owners.
As a management team, we are dedicated to raising the standards
within the hotel industry by setting and improving on our own.
We will continue to achieve measured growth and realistic
expansion throughout the Middle East and Africa, South Asia
and Eastern Europe bringing our expertise to every future hotel,
convention centre, serviced apartment or prime resort. As a
company, we will pursue new openings and opportunities, fresh
challenges and partners who seek the same goals and share the
same aspirations.
“One of my wishes
is that we have one
of all of our brands
in every major city
in the Middle East
and Africa. When
we started up the
company, the target
was to have a Rotana
hotel of some sort in
every major city of
the Middle East. Now
that we’ve achieved that, we want to get to the next level,
which is every brand of Rotana in every major Middle East
city. Probably by 2020 we’re going to be very close to that.
We’re working very hard to ensure that all of our brands are
in the right locations.”
Omer Kaddouri
President and Chief Executive Officer
Figures are based on the 2014 expansion plan
*
15
Partnerships and Awards
2013 Awards
World Luxury Hotel
• Al Ain Rotana, Middle East Luxury Wedding Destination
• Al Bustan Rotana Dubai, Middle East Luxury Airport Hotel
• Al Ghurair Rayhaan by Rotana Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Luxury Design Hotel
• Al Murooj Rotana Dubai, United Arab Emirates Luxury
Business Hotel
• Beach Rotana Abu Dhabi, Middle East Best Hotel Restaurant
• BurJuman Arjaan by Rotana Dubai, Middle East Luxury
Boutique Hotel
• Nour Arjaan by Rotana Fujairah, United Arab Emirates Best
Serviced Apartment
• The Cove Rotana Resort Ras Al Khaimah, Middle East Luxury
Coastal Resort
International Hotel Awards Arabia
• Al Murooj Rotana Dubai, 5-star Award for Best Hotel Category,
Dubai
• Al Bustan Rotana Dubai, 5-star Award for Convention Hotel
Category, Dubai
• The Cove Rotana Resort Ras Al Khaimah, Award for Hotel
Architecture Category, Ras Al Khaimah
• Fujairah Rotana Resort & Spa Fujairah, 5-star Award for Resort
Hotel Category, Fujairah
• Al Ain Rotana, 5-star Award Best Hotel Category, Abu Dhabi
• Beach Rotana Abu Dhabi, 5-star Award Best Hotel Category,
Abu Dhabi
• Centro Capital Centre Abu Dhabi, Award for New Hotel
Construction and Design Category, Abu Dhabi
• Al Salam Rotana Khartoum, 5-star Award for Airport Hotel
Category, Sudan
• Boulevard Arjaan by Rotana Amman, 5-star Award for New
Hotel Construction & Design Category, Jordan
Rotana was voted The Middle East’s leading hotel brand at
World Travel Awards 2013
• Fujairah Rotana Resort & Spa voted Middle East’s Leading
Family Resort
• Beach Rotana Abu Dhabi, voted Middle East Leading
Corporate Resort
• Park Rotana Abu Dhabi, voted Abu Dhabi’s Leading Business
Hotel
• Arjaan by Rotana Dubai, voted Middle East’s Leading Luxury
Hotel Apartments
• Amwaj Rotana Dubai, voted Dubai’s Leading City Hotel
• Al Bustan Rotana Dubai, voted Middle East’s Leading City Hotel
• Erbil Rotana voted Iraq’s Leading Hotel
• Gefinor Rotana Beirut, voted Lebanon’s Leading Business Hotel
• Al Manshar Rotana Kuwait, voted Kuwait’s Leading Business
Hotel
• Al Ghurair Rayhaan Dubai, voted Leading New Hotel
• Al Ghurair Arjaan Dubai, voted Leading Serviced Apartment
Business Traveller Middle East Awards
• Best Hotel Loyalty Programme in the Middle East Gourmet
Abu Dhabi
• BBC Good Food Middle Eats Best Sustainability Practice
Yas Island Rotana Abu Dhabi
CEO Middle East Awards
• Selim El Zyr awarded the hospitality CEO of the year
Group Picture for the management team celebrating 2014 successes.
16
2014 Awards
The Cove Rotana Environmental Award
• First place for Best Environmental Practices, Ras Al Khaimah
Environment Protection and Development Authority, UAE
• First place in saving water, electricity and paper in
Ras Al Khaimah Environment Protection and Development
Authority, UAE
Mr Kinan Al Ghraoui, General
Manager - Villa Rotana, Rimal
Rotana and Rihab Rotana, UAE
voted as the CSR Champion
of the Year by Hotelier Middle
East, 2014
Business Traveller Middle East Awards
• Best Hotel Loyalty Programme in the Middle East
• Best Budget Hotel Brand - Centro Hotels by Rotana
World Travel Awards 2014
• Rotana voted the ‘World’s Leading Business Hotel Brand’ for
the third time at the ‘World Travel Awards 2014’, attesting the
continuous efforts and outstanding achievements
• Beach Rotana Abu Dhabi, recognised as the ‘World’s Leading
Corporate Resort’
Gourmet Abu Dhabi Middle
East Best Sustainability Practice
Yas Island Rotana Abu Dhabi,
2014
Hotelier Middle East
• CSR Champion of the year, General Manager of Villa, Rimal
and Rihab Rotana, UAE
To view our awards visit rotana.com/awards
Rotana won the ‘World’s
Leading Business Hotel Brand’
for the third time at the World
Travel Awards 2014
Memberships
Rotana believes that in sustainable development, businesses,
public authorities and social society shall work in partnership
in order to reconcile the three fundamental constituents of
development: economy, ecology and social equity.
By partnering and joining forces with dedicated organisations
and groups across the base countries and at a corporate level,
we will make a real progress on our sustainability programme
and make all a real difference. Our membership at the Abu Dhabi
Sustainability Group continues to be effective for the second year
cycle in aiding Rotana to progress on its sustainability programme
by acquiring a more knowledge to successfully implement
sustainability management programme, as well as to develop the
annual sustainability report.
17
Our Governance
18
19
20
04
Board Operation
Corporate governance is a multifaceted system that directs
the business conduct. It includes the rights and duties of
stakeholders, board of directors and management alike. Rotana’s
understanding of corporate governance delves beyond financial
performance, to encompass guest and colleague’s satisfaction,
commitment to quality and brand standards, accountability,
transparency and business ethics.
Our corporate governance is rooted in our legacy of maintaining
a top-quality guest-oriented management system that fulfills
our responsibilities and creates relationships of trust with
our stakeholders. These are built upon strong foundations of
transparency, disclosure, fairness, monitoring and review with
a focus on dialogue between management and colleagues and
society at large.
Board of directors
Our board of directors comprises one executive and four non
executive members including the chairman. All our board
members are non-independent, elected by the shareholders
every three years. The skill and knowledge of the board members
has proved to be of immense value, the members possess
experience in fields as varied as finance, economy, business
administration, and hoteliering to social service and engineering.
The board of directors meet regularly and minimum quarterly to
discuss the company’s performance reports covering the various
areas of financial, social sustainability aspects, and is presented by
a senior executive to the board of directors. Related resolutions are
made accordingly.
Responsible business
To earn and retain the trust of our owners, guests and other
stakeholders, we manage our operations responsibly and
conduct our business in an ethical and transparent way,
ensuring we comply with legislations, guest’s requirements and
stakeholder’s expectation.
The board of directors is responsible for the overall strategic
direction of the company, risk management and is supported in
the day to day operation by four committees: ethics, executive,
audit and sustainability.
An investment strategy is established taking into consideration
different type of business risks including, but not limited to
market, products, political, owners profile, partners, level of
investment and the strategy is approved by the board of directors.
The board of directors regularly addresses all key treasuries
related decision, assess and approve its utilisation.
An official detailed authority matrix is established and
approved by the board specifying the authorities of the
executive committee and the board members over specific
tasks involving financial, social, legal, procurement and
business development. This authority matrix represents the key
tool on addressing and preventing any potential risks related to
fraud and conflict of interest.
Shareholders are initially and continuously involved to set
company’s values, mission, and strategy.
In terms of performance with respect to governance the board
carries out self-assessments and does not currently have specific
sustainability criteria by which it assesses its performance.
21
Financial transparency and control
Rotana’s finance systems are based on a very simple principle:
that real financial management can only be achieved through
transparency and control. These two accounting principles
inform everything we do and ensure an up-to- the-minute
understanding of where our hotels stands financially – as well
as a clear understanding of how improved cost efficiencies will
affect the future.
Rotana’s systems provide feedback to property owners on every
aspect of their property, be it occupancy trends, colleague
productivity or cost efficiency. Financial planning is underpinned
by practical policies, state-of-the-art information systems and a
two-tier audit process that ensures management and operations
performance is continuously reviewed and evaluated.
Our operations manuals and authorisation systems are geared
towards maintaining control over every operating cost.
Combined, these tools give owners and managers the means to
maximise sales growth, ensure profitability, and deliver strictly
controlled expenditure.
Audit process
Grant Thornton performs an annual audit of the core business for
all Rotana hotels and support processes to highlight gaps in internal
controls and also review the business and support processes for
identifying improvement opportunities. A risk based approach is
followed by:
• Evaluating the control objectives of the main processes
• Evaluating the risks surrounding each process
• Evaluating the existing controls in each process
• Identifying the main gaps and deficiencies in the control system
• Recommending and proposing solutions, controls and systems
that remediate the gaps and manage risks
Findings under each category’s criteria are highlighted as low,
medium and high risk, hence enabling our hotels to priorities
and act on the recommendations to strengthen the business and
support processes. A review of the status of implementation of
recommendations made are carried out annually and added to the
report presented to the management.
“Bullet-proof
financial planning
is underpinned by
practical policies,
state-of-the-art
information systems
and a two-tier
audit process that
ensures management
and operations
performance is
continuously reviewed
and evaluated.”
Hamid Abou Sahyoun
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
22
Organisation
We operate according to a decentralised
organisational structure, with General
Managers in each hotel and Area Vice
Presidents in different regions. The General
Manager of each hotel reports directly to the
relevant Area Vice Presidents and the company
Chief Operating Officer.
EHS Hotels Committee
Board
of Directors
Executive
Committee
The Chief Operating Officer of Rotana chairs
the Corporate Sustainability Committee,
which includes the most senior members of all
departments at Rotana. Rotana has a corporate
director for EHS in charge of Sustainability, who
is supported by an Environment, Health and
Safety (EHS)/Sustainability manager or officer
in every hotel, and is tasked with incorporating
sustainability management into relevant Rotana
hotels, reports directly to the hotel General
Manager or Executive Assistant Manager and
indirectly to the Director of EHS in the head office
who also reports to the Chief Operating Officer.
Head office
Region
Hotels
Audit
Committee
President
& CEO
Internal
Auditors
Ethics
Committee
Executive Vice
President & Chief
Financial Officer
An Environment, Health and Safety/Sustainability
Committee is established in each Rotana
hotel. Senior managers from all departments
are represented on the EHS/Sustainability
Committee. Other sub-committees, such as Earth
champions, colleague welfare committees ensure
that broader participation is facilitated between
middle management and below.
We combine both a top-down and bottom-up
approach to ensure maximum engagement in
operations and the greatest impact for the group
as a whole.
Corporate Sustainability Committee Members
Shareholder
Executive Vice
President & Chief
Operating Officer
CVP - Finance
CVP - Projects
CVP - Sales
CVP - F&B
Projects
Development
CVP Development
Corporate
Director of EHS /
Sustainability
CVP Engineering
CVP Housekeeping
CVP Materials
Management
CVP - Front
Office
CVP - Human
Resources
CVP Marketing
CVP - F&B
Operations
CVP Information
Technology
Senior Vice
President - India
Area Vice
President
Abu Dhabi
& Al Ain
Hotels
General
Manager
Department
Heads
EHS Manager
/ Officer
* Executive committee acts as the remuneration and compensation committee
** Ethics committee comprises the CFO, Chief Operating Officer and CVP Human resources
Function
Role
• Corporate Sustainability Committee (CSC)
• Chief Operating Officer (COO)
• Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
• Corporate EHS/Sustainability Director
• Review and approving sustainable goals, objectives, policies
and procedures
• Provide key decisions on sustainable initiatives/programmes
• Circulate information, programmes and policies to our hotels
• Ensure a high level of supervision of the hotels relevant
department’s sustainable direction and performance
• Evaluate the progress made and the challenges faced during the
implementation
• Area Vice Presidents
• Evaluate the progress made and the challenges faced during the
implementation
• Monitor the relevant area hotels performance
• General Manager
• EHS Committee
• Define and implement Rotana Corporate Sustainability
Committee action plans and programmes
• Report on performance
23
Committees
We have four Corporate Committees that overlook the
functioning of the company’s operation and the sustainability.
These committees are Executive, Ethics, Audit and Sustainability.
All committees act in accordance with a formal charter approved
by the Board of Directors.
Whenever needed, the committees are empowered to acquire
the consulting resources and expertise deemed necessary
to perform their responsibilities such as retention policy and
programme, restructuring of the organisation, compensation
alignment and others. Specialised independent consultants are
carefully selected.
1: Executive committee
The Executive Committee consists of three directors appointed
by the board and exercise all the powers of the board of directors
in the management of the business and affairs of the company.
It acts as the remuneration and compensation committee and
directly involve the board of directors members. The executive
committee engage directly with different stakeholders including
owners, guests, colleagues and regulatory bodies. The members
meets frequently and as when needed in order to ensure the
response and implementation of matters delegated to the
committee by the board of directors in accordance with the
company’s authority‘s matrix.
2: Audit committee
The audit committee is responsible for oversight of the financial
reporting process, selection of the independent auditor, and
receipt of audit results both internal and external. The committee
assists the board of directors fulfill its corporate governance and
oversees responsibilities in relation to the company’s financial
reporting, internal control system, risk management system and
internal and external audit functions. It also provides advice and
recommendations to the board within the scope of its terms of
charter. The audit committee meets twice a year and receives
regular updates from the internal and external third part auditors.
3: Corporate sustainability committee
The Corporate Sustainability Committee function is to oversee
the sustainability programmes, including:
• Providing key decisions on sustainable initiatives/programmes
• Circulating information, programmes and policies to our
hotels
• Ensuring a high level of supervision of the hotels relevant
department’s sustainable direction and performance
• Evaluating the progress made and the challenges faced during
the implementation
• Reviewing and approving sustainable goals, policies and
procedures
It consists of the Corporate Vice Presidents from Engineering,
Marketing, Human Resources, Information Technology, Materials,
Food and Beverage, Housekeeping, Director of Environment
Health and Safety and the Chief Operating Officer. The members
meet every quarter. Since its establishment in 2012, the
committee members have met 15 times to set policies, agree on
group KPIs, analyse progress and issue guideline to support the
hotels achieving their KPIs.
There are a total of 38 EHS Managers or EHS Officers to
implement Rotana Corporate Sustainability Committee action
plans. Each hotel’s EHS Manager or/and EHS officer chairs and
works closely with the hotel EHS Sustainability Committee
24
and report directly to the Hotel’s General Manager and to the
corporate EHS Director in the head office. If required, issues
related to sustainability are channeled from hotels EHS team
and/or General Managers to the Corporate Director of EHS/
Sustainability, to the company Chief Operating Officer and Chief
Executive Officer and consequently to the Board.
4: Ethics committee
The Corporate Ethics Committee’s objective is mainly to look
after the rights and interests of Department Heads and colleagues
reporting directly to the General Managers of properties
concerned and the company ethic framework in general. It
consists of the following members:
• Chief Operating Officer
• Chief Financial Officer
• Corporate Vice President – Human Resources
The Hotel Ethics Committee’s objective is to look into complaints
on unethical practices, primarily dedicated to the rights and
interest of all our colleagues. It consists of the following members:
• General Manager
• Head of Finance
• Head of Human Resources
Neutral Department Head, to be elected as ‘contra part’ based on
members 1 – 3 (male/female ratio, nationality mix, etc.)
The committees ensure the following while handling any issues
related to the company’s code of business conduct and ethics:
• Response time
• Facts finding
• Proper forum
• Investigation
• Transparency and objectivity
• Independency
Serious decisions are made as warranted in accordance with the
company’s policy and procedures. All decisions are disclosed and
communicated transparently, following the company’s process
and with notice period when applicable.
Code of Business Conduct and Ethics
For Rotana, ethics is the centrepiece of the company’s and
colleague’s commitment to conducting business legally and with
high standards of integrity. The cornerstone of our business
conduct is the ‘Code of Business Conduct and Ethics’, which
addresses in a detailed way, the following issues:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Compliance with Laws, Rules and Regulations
Conflict of interest
Confidentiality
Use and Protection of Company Assets
Entertainment and Gifts
Dealing with Government Colleagues or Officials
Dealing with Media and Online Communities
Corporate Opportunities
Protection of Company Records
Bribery and Corruption
Competitive Practices
Political Activities and Contributions
Safety, Health and Environment
Grooming Standards
Discipline
Discrimination and Harassment
Use of Electronic System
Information System/Software
Employment of Relatives
Compliance
As a result of the practices we follow at Rotana, during 2013 and
20114 there were:
• No fines or non-monetary sanctions for compliance with
environmental laws; violations of rights for indigenous people;
incidents of discrimination; incidents of non-compliance with
regulation and voluntary marketing codes; or non-compliance
with laws and regulations
• No financial or non-financial contribution to political parties or
polities took place, nor did we receive any financial aid from
governments
• No legal actions for anti-competitive behavior, anti-trust and
monopoly behavior against Rotana were claimed
Continuous efforts are made to ensure Rotana’s Code represents
best practices in ethics and compliance. It is a compulsory
requirement for all colleagues to undertake the module of Code of
Conduct training as part of the Rotana Life orientation programme
covering anti-corruption and bribery and discrimination, which is an
important aspect of human rights issues relevant to our operation.
All colleagues who handle customer information are required to
also undertake the same module of code of conduct training on
confidentiality and customer data privacy. In the coming year,
while continuing to have new colleagues complete the Code
of conduct training, we will also be rolling out a refreshment
programme for all Rotana colleagues.
In 2013 and 2014, all new joiners have been trained on the Code,
as well as have signed the respective acknowledgement, bringing
the percentage to 100% of our colleagues who were induced on
the code content and have acknowledged their commitment to
operate ethically.
Out of the group’s workforce of over 11,000 colleagues,
grievances of discrimination were lodged, investigated and dealt
with in accordance with the company’s policy, and there were no
reported breaches of anti-corruption practices.
Annual Confidential Code of Business Conduct and Ethics
disclosure acknowledgement is issued on a yearly basis and
signed by Corporate Officers, General Managers, Resident
Managers, Executive Assistant Manager, Head of Finance, Head
of Materials, Area Director of Sales and Marketing and Director
of Sales and Marketing to disclose compliance with code content
and any unethical incidents.
Our targets for 2015
• Code of Business Conduct and Ethics: while continuing
to have new colleagues complete the Code of Conduct
training, we will roll out a refreshment programme for
all Rotana colleagues.
• Develop and define long-term sustainable business
goals for the year 2020.
• Continue to training the corporate sustainability
committee members on different aspects of
sustainability management.
• Integrate sustainability mandatory criteria to the
existing annual corporate vice presidents hotels audits.
25
Our Sustainability Strategy
26
27
28
05
Our Sustainability Strategy
The Journey So Far…
In the past years Rotana has demonstrated its
commitment to sustainability with good economic
performance, various environmental and social
programmes and high impact initiatives that are
currently underway to achieve natural resources
reduction and various social responsibility and
community engagement programmes.
The Rotana sustainability journey started
in 2012 by developing and implementing a
comprehensive Sustainability strategy to provide
a planned and systematic approach to set our
sustainability targets, key performance indicators,
management initiatives and measuring and
reporting framework. Since then, we are striving
to find better and most sustainable ways to
continue providing the highest standards of luxury
and quality to our guests.
Our journeys started with an aim to “Respect and
Protect “the people and the planet by developing
many systems and programmes and setting
targets. But we understand that Sustainability
demands both a system perspective and a
cultural approach. Therefore the way forward
is to focus on educating and engaging our
stakeholders and integrating sustainable practices
and principles across our business. Many
initiatives were implemented in our hotels to
educate our stakeholders on various sustainability
topics that are detailed in corresponding
stakeholders chapters.
29
Our Vision
Sustainability vision
ECONOMY
Our
Governance
ETY
CI
O
Our
Suppliers
Our
Colleagues
Our
Environment
Our
Community
Our
Guests
ENVIRO
NM
In order to achieve our sustainability vision, Rotana has identified key strategic sustainability
goals that align with our core corporate values of LIFE: Long term, Innovative, Friendly and
Ethical. We will use these guiding principles and objectives to manage our businesses in a way
that sustain the people, the planet, and profit. Our sustainability vision is supported by our
Board and Senior Management, who have committed to leading Rotana towards this vision.
T
EN
“To be a hotel industry leader in implementing sustainable business practices that minimise
harm and maximise benefit to our stakeholders”
S
Our Goals
Beside the strategic sustainability goals, we have set short term KPIs under each of our key sustainability areas - our environment, our
colleagues, our guests, our suppliers and our communities, progress on achievements and future KPIs are detailed in each section of
the report.
Sustainability policy strategic goals
Our Management and Governance
Our colleagues
• We will consult with and engage our stakeholders and
community in our sustainability initiatives
• We will protect the health and safety of our colleagues by
adhering to international principles that respect human rights
• We will instill a culture of sustainability through education and
promotion of sustainability values and principles amongst our
colleagues, guests and the community
• We will ensure colleague’s satisfaction and wellbeing at work
• We will comply with laws and regulations and ensure that
our business is conducted in accordance with the standards
outlined in our code of Business Conduct and ethics
• We will instill a culture of sustainability through education
and promotion of sustainability values and principles amongst
our community
• We will maximise financial return to our shareholders by
optimising our operational efficiency and reducing risks and
liabilities through sustainable business planning
Our guests
• We will ensure guests satisfaction and provide value for money
through the realisation of sustainable business and operational
efficiency
• We will protect the health, safety, privacy and security of
guests by adhering to international principles that respect
human rights
Our environment
• We will manage our operations in a manner that protects
our valuable natural resources and prevents pollution of the
environment, in compliance with environmental laws
• We will minimise our impact on climate change and reduce our
consumption of energy and water by optimising operational
efficiency, procuring locally and adopting clean technologies
• We will optimise materials consumption and reduce waste to
landfill by reusing and recycling natural resources and materials
30
• We will instill a culture of sustainability through education
and promotion of sustainability values and principles amongst
our colleagues
Our community
• We will contribute to the society we work and live in by
supporting local community needs and promoting sustainability
and the cultural values of our society
• We will contribute to local and national economic
development through local employment and the promotion
and growth of sustainable tourism
Our suppliers
• We will address sustainability issues in our supply chains, with
the goal of minimising the negative environmental and social
impacts of our procurement decisions whilst meeting our
financial and quality requirements
• We will make preference to source locally and from sustainable
sources in order to support the local communities and
environment
Our Approach
In order to better understand our company’s current
sustainability maturity level, we have utilised the Sustainability
Maturity Assessment Tool (part of the Capacity Building
programme of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Group –ADSG)
enabling us to conduct a thorough assessment of our global
operations with the goal of evaluating our current sustainability
performance and creating rigid strategy to define and build
sustainability into our operations. The sustainability Maturity
Assessment Tool enabled us to develop our short term 2012-2015
plan under each of our platform areas: governance, colleagues,
suppliers, guests, communities and environment. We have
identified:
• Policies to be developed
• Approaches and Programmes to be implemented
• Performance monitoring tools for related KPIs
• Perception collection methodologies to be implemented
Over the past 21 years, Rotana has established itself as the leading
hotel management company in the Middle East, Africa, South
Asia and Eastern Europe, with 50 operating properties across the
region and an ambitious expansion plan to operate 100 hotels in
2020. With expansion comes responsibility to be mindful of the
impact on the environment and communities’ lives.
Therefore, in April 2012, Rotana established a new level of
leadership in sustainable development by announcing an
expansive sustainability strategy to be implemented at all new and
operating hotels, apartments and resorts. It is a framework that
addresses environmental, economic and social sustainability. The
programme provides guidance for each property thus enabling
them to work towards sustainable practices throughout the
property’s operations as well as the development of new hotels.
Rotana became well positioned to make a difference
environmentally, socially and economically in the countries
where we operate and aim to expand into.
As a result, Rotana Earth was included in the company’s business
priorities to embed Rotana Earth and priorities including
implementation of community engagement activities, reduction
of natural resources consumption, substitution of products into
more responsibly sources products, and have set corporate
Sustainability Key Performance Indicators for the operating
hotels to achieve by end of 2014. Therefore, we introduced
the annual sustainability budget and added it in the annual
budgetary process.
Under our sustainability platform, we have set strategic
environmental, economic and social objectives focussing on
the most sustainability issues facing the hospitality industry and
globally. We did a materiality assessment to identify the issues that
have most significant economic, environmental and social impacts
on the company’s performance as well as on our stakeholders to
identify areas to focus on and integrate it in our strategy.
Sustainability-value chain
Sustainability
vision commitment
to mission statement
Engaging colleagues
in sustainability
programmes
Engaging and
educating diverse
stakeholders
Inspiration,
innovation
Colleagues engagement,
satisfaction, productivity
and innovation
Colleagues retention
and talent attraction
Marketing and
responsible
communication
Meet guest
expectations
Satisfied
community
Local economic
prosperity
External market
forces
Effective managers,
rewards systems,
workplace culture
Operational cost
saving and efficiencies
Satisfied and loyal
guest
Sustainable
company
profit
Revenue/growth
/market share
Company goals,
strategies, systems,
structure and governance
Quality products
and services
Growth
and expansion
Brand/image/reputation
Radically
increase
productivity
Invest
natural
capital
Seek carbon
emission
reduction
Responsible
supply
chain
Reduce
carbon
footprint
31
Sustainability Earth website
health and safety management system audit procedure. No audits
directly targetting the sustainability overall scope were conducted
so far. Sustainability mandatory criteria were prepared for each
department and will be added to the existing annual corporate vice
presidents audits to their respective hotels audits.
We have also created property specific sustainable identities on
various social networking sites where we share all our activities
with our followers.
Integration in the value chain
In order to batter engage our stakeholders, educate and share with
them our performance and achievements, we have designed and
launched our Rotana Earth website rotanaearth.com and linked it
to Rotana’s main web page.
Sustainability programmes
Our 3-year plan (2012-2015) included different environmental,
social and economic programmes to be implemented in our hotels
during this period to underpin our sustainability platform. Last year
we have completed several programmes that will be mentioned
under each of the relevant section in the report.
Training and engagement
We have committed to educate and engage more our stakeholders
to increase their sustainability awareness on sustainability issues
and have added to our plan more activities to educate our guests,
colleagues and the community. As for the suppliers, we have not
yet initiated an engagement pathway; it will be included in our
2014 sustainable procurement programme.
Rotana has selected its sustainability strategy to act as the main
pillar of our business. It spans the entire value chain in order to
meet the expectations of our stakeholders as it helps as well to find
new ways to cooperate with our suppliers, owners, and to relate to
our guests, colleagues and community in general.
Al Bustan Rotana attains
ISO 14001 certification
Al Bustan Rotana makes a significant mark in Rotana’s history
as the first property to achieve this recognition by earning
the internationally-recognised ISO 14001 certification
for Environmental Management Systems In line with its
advancements in environmental sustainability standards.
Sustainability audits
Internal and external audits have a key role in the journey towards
sustainability by continuously assessing the extent to which the
sustainability programmes are implemented within the company
and our hotels. We have not yet completed a holistic internal audit
protocol; however an ISO 14001, environmental management
system audit protocol was prepared, as well as an environment,
Our Stakeholders
As we progress in our sustainability journey, we continue to define
and redefine our stakeholders and our interaction with them.
Our stakeholders are defined as those which can impact, or are
impacted by, the operations.
Below is the list of who we considers to be our most material
stakeholders:
• Our Colleagues
• Our Guests
• Our Owners
• Our Suppliers
• Our Environment
• Our Communities (including governmental bodies)
Stakeholder dialogue
In 2012, we sought feedback from a select group of internal
stakeholders: guests and colleagues from the satisfaction survey
results and answers as well as from the corporate sustainability
committee members who were requested to identify the most
materials aspects in terms of their importance to the society and
to Rotana’s business.
With the decision to adopt the new GRI G4 guidelines, materiality
32
assessment has increasingly become a core in our sustainability
reporting and therefore we do recognise the importance to
conducting a proper stakeholder engagement and a materiality
assessment, to further align business practices with societal needs
and expectations, helping to drive long‐term sustainability.
A holistic stakeholder engagement and materiality assessment
process was initiated in 2014 to enable us review our strategy and
policies, improve activities and set long term 2020 goals.
Stakeholders expectations
Different stakeholders mean different expectations, which may
be contradictory to one another. Rotana aims to balance differing
expectations, while allowing all stakeholder groups to feel their
demands are being met.
We involve our stakeholders in strategic decision making
and setting of guidelines that clearly indicate management
responsibility. We also proactively share information on our
progress toward these on a regular basis.
Some of the results of our stakeholder’s expectations and our
response to them are shared in the following table.
Colleagues
Guests
Expectations
Typical engagement
pathways
Our response
Examples of results
• Career growth and
development
• Learning opportunities
• Wages and benefits
competitiveness
• Social welfare
• Job security
• Equal treatment
• Open interaction
• Recognition of
performance and
contribution
• Healthy and safe
workplace
• Positive impact on the
community
• Monthly team meetings
• Roundtable lunches with
GMs
• Access to my Rotana portal
• Biannual Rotana
Colleagues Satisfaction
Survey: Engaged to Life
• Colleagues Welfare
Committee
• Annual performance
review
• Daily departmental
briefing
• Newsletters
• Notice boards, posters
• Exit Interview
• Insight Rotana
• Promoting colleagues
wellbeing through safe
working conditions and
motivating atmospheres
• Conducting annual
performance reviews
and setting personal
development plan for
colleagues
• Setting a performance
based bonus and reward
(Rotana bonus scheme)
• Respecting the culture and
values of colleagues and
supporting equality
• Participating in wages
surveys
• Implementing Environment
Health and Safety
Management Systems
• Promoting colleagues
participation in
communities contribution
activities
• 84% of our colleagues say
that Rotana offers excellent
career opportunities to
colleagues who are strong
performers
• 86% of our colleagues
say “my future career
opportunities with Rotana
look good”
• 88% of our colleagues say
“Rotana strongly supports
learning and development
of all colleagues”
• 79% of our colleagues
says “The performance
management system works
effectively for me”
• 74% of our colleague
say that “Colleagues are
treated fairly regardless
of their age, nationality,
gender or seniority,
nationality“
• 29,813 volunteering
hours were given by our
colleagues to participate in
CSR activities
• Satisfaction/high quality
products and good
services
• Reasonable pricing
• Clear billing practices
• Environmentally friendly
products
• Energy conservation tips
• Responsibility
• Long term guests
relationship
• Positive impact on the
community
• Health, Safety and Security
• RGSS – Rotana Guests
Satisfaction Survey
• Social Media
• Guests comments cards
• Meet the team gathering
guests-department heads.
• Strategic level meetings
with guest contacts, travel
networks
• Sustainability related
brochures
• Sustainability related
activities at our hotels
• Developing new product
and services packages and
rates
• Offering good price/quality
ratio
• Implement guests
distinction programmes
• Developing guest
environmental
programmes
• Implementing Environment
Health and Safety
Management Systems
• Implementing emergency
management plan and
security programmes
• Our hotels Environmental
Friendliness was ranked
6th among the top 10
drivers for Rotana guests
to recommend and return
to our hotels
• Sustainability was among
the top 10 drivers for
Rotana guests to choose
and return to our hotels
• We achieved a score
of 83.8% for the survey
criteria if we did fulfill
making the guest stay with
us a treasured experience
• We achieved a score of
84.7% when we asked the
guest about their overall
satisfaction of the stay
experience
• Guests satisfaction score
on the value for price is
78.1% and the accuracy
of our bills at check out is
88.8%
• Guests satisfaction score
on our hotels overall
environmental friendliness
is 84.8%
• Our guests satisfaction
with the overall safety
at the health and fitness
centre, pool and beach
facilities is 87.7%
33
Owners
Suppliers
Community
Typical engagement
pathways
Our response
• High yield share
• Risk management
• Consideration of the
economic, social and
environmental impacts of
our operations
• Representation in Board of
Directors
• Monthly meetings with
business owners
• Annual audit reports
• Supplier forums and
meeting
• Representation in Board of
Directors
• Monthly meetings with
business owners
• Annual audit reports
• Supplier forums and
meeting
• Ethical and transparent
purchasing and
procurement practices
• Suppliers negotiation
meetings
• Contracts renewal
meetings
• Respecting purchasing
agreements terms
• Evaluating our suppliers
performance and awarding
agreements accordingly
• 147 supliers were audited
in the last two years (total
of 515 since the supplier’s
qualification programme
was initiated. Contracts
were fairly awarded to
suppliers meeting our
requirements, of whom 19
have been rejected till date
• Local employment and
career development
opportunities
• Activities for the good of
the society
• Openness
• Managing our economic,
social and environmental
impacts
• Compliance with laws and
regulations
• Dialogue and Transparency
• Reporting
• Payment of taxes (where
applicable)
• Rotana “Duroob”
nationalisation programme
• Media relations events and
meetings
• Joint NGO partnership
Activities
• Contributing to the local
communities where we
operate
• Participating in societies
activities (campaigns,
charities, education)
• 150 activties engaging
the communities were
implemented in 2013 and
260 activities in 2014
• Protection and
preservation of natural
resources
• Implementation of ISO
14001
• Performance monitoring
reports
• Implementing
Environmental
management system
• Continuously monitoring
and improving
performance in the
areas of energy, water,
chemicals and resource
consumption, and waste
generation
• An environment Health
and Safety Management
System is currently in
implementation in our 45
operating hotels
• Our hotels started
implementing the ISO
14001 standards and
one hotel achieved the
certification
• 19 hotels targetting the ISO
14001 certification in 2015
Environment
Expectations
Examples of results
Case Study
As part of our Corporate Responsibility activities, Rotana assisted Zayed University students to complete their master research
project about social responsibility and colleague engagement in Abu Dhabi.
The purpose of the project is to explore the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives in Abu Dhabi organisations and to find
the degree of colleague awareness and engagement in theses CSR programmes in their companies such as environmental campaigns,
children activities, education, social welfare, health activities, donations, charities. Hence our colleagues were asked to participate
in a voluntary survey. The result of the survey helped us to understand our colleagues’ perspective on CSR and provide appropriate
recommendations on engaging colleagues. Results indicate that colleagues are generally aware of CSR as a concept and CSR
activities within the company, but they are not actively engaged in them. Thus, we need to design and implement a communication
strategy geared towards motivating our colleagues to join CSR activities. 75% of colleagues said that their company motivates them
to participate in CSR activities.
34
Materiality Assessment
Sustainability materiality map
We believe that by conducting a materiality assessment and
stakeholder engagement, we will be providing opportunities
to further align business practices with societal needs and
expectations, helping to drive long term sustainability and
shareholder value. The Materiality Map included all GRI G4
Aspects, as well as other aspects important for our business. It is
based on three elements that helped us to list and prioritise the
most material issues (Table 1). The map relies mainly on:
• Sustainability maturity assessment results and scores
• The company’s sustainability focusses areas
• Stakeholder expectations as analysed by Rotana
Materiality matrix
In our materiality matrix, material issues are defined as the issues
of highest concern to the company and have high impact on our
external stakeholders. For the company, priorities are set based
on the likelihood and potential impact of issues affecting business
continuity and development. The importance of identified
materials issues was ranked by 40 Rotana General Managers, all
Vice Presidents and Chief Officers during an internal workshop
on stakeholder’s materiality assessment, based on a scoring scale
from 1 for low importance to 5 as high important.
For external stakeholders, prioritisation is given to the impact of
the issues to them and their relevance to Rotana.
35
Table 1: Sustainability issues, mapping and prioritisation
Governance/
Management
Colleagues
Suppliers
Guests
Community
Environment
· Board operation
·Organisation
· Code of business
conduct and
ethics
·Strategy
·Targets
·Reporting
·Culture
·Knowledge
·Dialogue
·Impact
assessment
·Function
·Compliance
·Economic
performance
· Market presence
·Workforce
·Satisfaction
· Learning and
development
· Health and safety
· Fair employment
· Learning and
development
· Equality and
fairness
· Health and safety
·Workplace
· Human rights
·Work
arrangements
·Non
discrimination
·Diversity
and equal
opportunity
·Equal
remuneration for
women and men
· Security practices
·Occupational
health and safety
·Sustainability
training and
education
· Indigenous rights
·Assessment
·Labour/
management
relation
·Collective
bargaining
· Child labour
· Forced or
compulsory
labour
· Local supplies
·Responsible
supplies
·Operational
support
·Responsible
buying
·Sustainability
awareness
·Procurement
practices
·Suppliers
assessment for
impact on society
· Suppliers human
rights assessment
·Supplier
assessment for
labour practices
·Supplier
environmental
assessment
·Satisfaction
· Education and
inspiration
· Health and
safety
·Security
·Responsible
communication
·Sustainability
awareness
· Product, service,
quality
· Product and
service labelling
· Marketing and
communication
(code)
· Guest privacy
·Product
and service
compliance
·Contribution
·Nationalisation
·Economic
development and
investment
· Local employment
· Positive support/
contribution
· Negative impact
·Sustainability
awareness
·Anti-corruption
·Local
communities
direct economic
impact
· Indirect economic
impacts
(community)
· Public policy
·Anti-competitive
behavior
·Compliance
· Local employment
·Energy
·Biodiversity
·Materials
·Water
· Effluents and
waste
·Atmospheric
emissions
·Responsible
transport
· Products and
services
·Compliance
The brown highlighted issues are the materials issues for the company
*
36
In 2014, we developed a “Stakeholder Engagement Plan” to
actively engage with our stakeholders, listen to them, build a
relationship with them and then respond better to their concerns
in a mutually beneficial way. By conducting the stakeholders’
engagement exercise, the materiality map will be revised in 2015
to include all stakeholders’ material issues and to be able to
further align our business practices with needs and expectations
raised during the engagement exercise.The plan was developed
around the following five steps:
1 Plan
• Establish objectives, scope
• Identify and prioritise stakeholders
1
6 Apply
• Assess and share internally
• Report back to stakeholders
5 Evaluate
• Design evaluation method
• Evaluate process and results
• Determine need for further
engagement
6
2
5
3
4
4 Engage
• Prepare the team
• Provide stakeholders with background
information
• Conduct engagement workshop
2 Prepare
• Identify issues
• Categorise issue
• Prioritise issues
3 Design
• Identify engagement
mode
• Identify technique and
need for facilitation
• Identify engagement
questionnaire
• Design engagement
questionnaire
• Determine timeline for
completion
Our targets for 2015
• Implement the developed framework for stakeholder
engagement plan and revise the materiality map
• Establish a robust sustainability communication plan to
engage stakeholders on wider sustainability issues and
company’s performance
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Our Guests
38
39
40
06
Our Guests
Building on today’s busy, fast moving world, time is our most
precious commodity. How and with whom we choose to spend
it is perhaps one of the most important decisions we make in
our lives. At Rotana, we have chosen to acknowledge this fact by
embracing the challenge of making all time spent to understand
and meet the individual needs of all who we deal with. In doing
so, we strive to continually build long-term relationships with our
guests and ensure to exceed their expectations.
Our sustainability goals
• We will ensure guests satisfaction and provide value for money through the
realisation of sustainable business and operational efficiency
• We will protect the health, safety, privacy and security of guests by adhering
to international principles that respect human rights
Our focus areas
•
•
•
•
Satisfaction
Education and Inspiration
Innovation and Technology
Health, Safety and Security
Our progress
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Rotana Guest Satisfaction Survey (RGSS) Score 88.0% √
90 Guests Sustainability Education Activities √
Reduce Health and Safety incidents by 20% ¨
Launch CRM and communication to the hotels √
Increase the Rotana Quality Standards (RQS) Score √
Implement the Treasured Time training programme (Guest care programme) √
Achieve Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) certification for
90% of our hotels √
Achieved √Ongoing ¨
41
Guest Satisfaction
In a world where feedback from guests drives business decisions, our most important measure of success is our guests and their
satisfactions. Rotana deals with “Market Metrix“, the leader in feedback solutions for the hospitality industry, to collect guest’s feedback.
It covers the entire journey of guest experience from making a reservation to departure, assessing the quality of services such as
housekeeping and laundry, pools and fitness centres as well as restaurants, lobbies, spas and other guest areas. Detailed reports with
performance charts, scoring summaries, and executive analyses provide insights into how we can continuously improve. By connecting
feedback with revenue, Market Metrix helps us to make smart investment decisions that both improve the guest experience and produce
higher profits and also used as an input into training programmes to address service shortfalls.
Our colleagues achieved 90.1% score by our guests on
their attitude.*
*2013 RGSS results
“Rotana considers
every guest as an
important customer.
We wish to ensure
that every guest
leaves our hotels
satisfied with the
service they have
received and the
desire to return. We
do this by following
a ‘can do’ approach.
We ensure that
our service levels
are consistent
and distinct
throughout each of the brands. Our desire is to surpass guest
expectations so that they will remember the time spent in our
hotels and encourage others to visit.”
Dominic Carr
Corporate Vice President
Quality and Customer Service Excellence
Guest service champions
Every minute, hundreds of interactions take place between
our guests and colleagues. Some of these interactions exceed
guests’ expectations and create ‘treasured experiences’ that are
cherished for life.
To this end, we provide our colleagues with Knowledge is Power
(KIP) training that equips and empowers our colleagues to meet
guest’s demands and to surpass their expectations. The Rotana
Guest Service Champion Award recognises colleagues who
go beyond what standard service requires. They surprised our
guests with spontaneous actions, little gestures and sometimes,
heroic acts.
Our Guest Service Champions of the Year received their awards
and trophies during the 2014 Annual Rotana Conference, UAE.
42
Rotana guest satisfaction survey
In 2013, overall 61,000 guests responded to the survey
throughout the year with a satisfaction score of 88.5%.
In 2014, the overall score for Rotana Guests Satisfaction score
was maintained with a result of 86.6% for 81,309 surveys
responded, this is an increase of 2.5% response rate from 2013.
84% of our guests confirm that Rotana’s brand promise
‘Treasured Time’ was fulfilled by making their stay with
us a treasured experience.
Guest‘s Champion Story
Ms Abbou was staying at Rihab Rotana for 18 nights. As she
suffered a broken arm, it was very challenging to complete her
daily activities and routine. Everyday, she required continuous
and careful assistance.
Both Babegenn (Front Desk Agent) and Eireen (Housekeeping
attendant) volunteered to assist Ms Abbou. They had divided
the tasks among each other to ensure the guest is comfortable
during her stay at the hotel.
Babegenn worked in the morning shift. She came daily at
5:00 am, 2 hours before her duty starts to assist Ms Abbou to
get ready. During her visits, she came to know that
Ms Abbou likes fresh fruits but was unable to peel them due
to her fractured arm. So Babegenn made sure that peeled
fresh fruits are available in the guest room every day.
From her side, Eireen assisted Ms Abbou during the day. She
helped in bathing, washing and pressing clothes and arranging
her meals. Eireen extended her duty for 2-3 hours daily.
Rotana Rewards, our loyalty programme
Guest‘s champion story
During Eid Al Adha period, the city of Karbala gets very
busy with pilgrims and visitors. During his visit to one of the
shrines, a Saudi national, who was a guest at Karbala Rayhaan
by Rotana, lost his passport. He tried in vain to look for it but
due to the large crowds, his attempts to find the passport
were not successful.The problem seemed more complicated
as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia closed the doors of its
embassy in Baghdad in 1990. The guest was devastated and
lost all hopes of finding the passport.
Without hesitation and challenging the large crowds in the
city, Amer Ibrahim Hussein, Security Supervisor, formed a
search squad with some of his friends. They all headed to the
shrine area where the passport was lost.
After six hours of continuous night search, Amer was able to
find the passport and return it back to the guest. Leo arranged
for a speedy pickup of the bag and handed it over to the
guest. Leo ensured that the guest left the country on time.
Rotana was the first regional hotel company to launch a loyalty
programme for dining and staying in 1999 and reached more than
72,363 members in 2014 for the three types of Rotana Rewards
Programmes: Exclusive, Select and Classic.
Our repeated business average increased from 40% in 2012 to
48% in 2013 to reach 54% in 2014.
Rotana Rewards members
reached 72,363 in 2014
The programme is the most regionally relevant loyalty programmes
in the Middle East and Africa, ensuring that every Rotana hotel is
busy. For four consecutive years (2011-2014) Rotana has won the
Best Loyalty programme for its Rewards programme during the
Business Traveller Middle East Awards.
Rotana Rewards
Exclusive
Rotana Rewards
Select
Rotana rewards members
90
80
70
60
Quality audits
Our hotels undergo Quality Audits to measure our performance
against Rotana’s set standards. The detailed audits provide us
with tools to assist through each part of the quality assurance
process: communicate, train, audit, analyse and act. In 2013 and
2014, we have further improved our results.
Rotana quality standards audits score
2014
50
72,363
40
59,878
30
20
36,950
19,210
10
2010
90
80
23,903
2011
2012
2013
2014
Number of active members
86.6
86.2
78.9
75.2
Members renewal ratio
70
2012
2013
60
2014
Renewal Ratio%
54%
50
40
30
48%
40%
20
10
Centro
Arjaan
Rotana
Rayhaan
0%
20%
40%
60%
43
Members by programme
90
Local heritage
Preserving Emirati heritage and informing our guests about
the local traditions, Rotana has partnered with Sougha, a
social enterprise which markets on behalf of the local Bedouin
artisans to improve the livelihood in opportunity deprived
locations. Sougha products are displayed for sale in 29 Rotana
hotels in the UAE for tourists and guests to purchase, learn
about the country’s artisanal traditional products and create
opportunities for unemployable or difficult to employ Emiratis
with entrepreneurial potential.
46,218
80
70
22,098
60
50
40
16,149
17,826
17,112
13,228
10,631
30
6,610
20
7,698
10
Exclusive
Select
Classic
2012
2013
2014
Guests perception
Best Loyalty Programme, Middle East
Business Travellers Awards 2012 - 2014
Cultural connection
Being a leading Emirati Company in the hospitality industry,
each of the Group’s hotels reflects local culture by providing our
guests with a warm welcome and a place to socialise and discuss
the affairs of the day. All our hotels have in their lobby Arabic
coffee and dates to add value to the hotels, by connecting our
international guests to the Arabian culture, and explain more of
the local cultural history.
Sustainability has become increasingly more important to our
guests and the communities in which we operate. We strive
to ensure that our hotels’ sustainable practices impact the
satisfaction and intention of our guests to return to our hotels.
Surveys completed by our hotel guests have confirmed that
our practices overall do have a positive relationship on guests’
satisfaction level and return intentions. As per our 2014 RGSS
(Rotana Guests Satisfaction Survey) results, sustainability was
ranked 6 in the factors correlated with guest intent to return.
As for our quality audits, we have integrated environmental
sustainability criteria in the audit questionnaires in 2013. To
evaluate our hotels practices specifically in the guest rooms. We
have achieved scores of 87.8% in 2013 and 86.3% in 2014 on the
set sustainability criterias.
100
90
87.8
86.3
2013
2014
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
Coffee and dates welcome guests at every Rotana hotel
44
10
UAE National Day
Rotana Egypt
Rotana UAE hotels celebrate the annual National Day of the
UAE union with a variety of events, festivities and shows for
the whole family around the emirates.
On World Heritage Day, Coral Beach Rotana Resort Hurghada organised an exhibition on ancient Egyptian
Pharaonic civilisation set to music of Opera Verdi “Egyptian
International Opera” to educate hotel guests about
Egyptian civilisation.
Innovation and Technology
In this day and age, the ability to be dynamic and adapt to a
changing environment is the only means of survival, and an
entity that cannot adapt fast enough will become obsolete
immediately. At Rotana, we are constantly pushing for innovation
and development in all departments and we strongly believe in
meeting guests’ evolving needs. This requires keeping the hotel
owners aware of the continuous need for renovation on all levels
in order to ensure the guest’s expectations are exceeded.
In the past two years, we have put a lot of emphasis on
technology and have implemented several guest focussed
technology initiatives including launch of Rotana Mobile App on
iOS, Android, Blackberry World and Windows Store.
Mobile platform: With the mobile and smartphones evolution a
few years back, we decided not to focus on a specific product or
solution but to keep our clients digitally engaged and connected
with us. Hence we deployed a mobile platform that integrates
with hotels’ key application in order to extend value added
services to our client via the various available smart devices.
The objective was to increase hotel revenue, improve our hotels’
efficiency and enhance our guests experience.
Online check-in: Rotana embraced the smart technology
service model even further by introducing online check-in
service, allowing our guests the option to speed up their check-in
experience at the hotel by completing their check-in online using
either rotana.com, Rotana App or an html link. The Rotana online
check-in ensures that our colleagues at the front desk focus
100% on a genuine personal welcome and interaction with our
guests.
“Technology is
an essential part
of the industry
evolution and many
new trends have
emerged based on
the customer needs
and expectations.
However, it is
important to note
that the purpose
of investing in
technology is to bring
added services to the
guest and enhance
his experience”
Samir Abi Frem
Corporate Vice President - Information Technology
45
Tablet delivered services
With the burst of tablet options now available on the market
and the various applications that can be developed using them,
Rotana, re-evaluated certain processes that could improve our
guest satisfaction with the use of tablets:
• Tablet check-in check out: 85% of guest’s surveys found the
tablet check-in a better check-in experience to a typical hotel
paper registration card check-in.
Rotana mobile app
Rotana App is available on four mobile stores (Apple, Android,
Blackberry and Microsoft) two years ago, resulted in a 20%
increase in monthly mobile bookings, delivering significant
return on investment in developing the monthly platform.
• Guest curveys: Guests complete a quick satisfaction survey
on the tablet presented to diners, event’s organisers. Greater
response rates and more details satisfaction intelligence
allowed the company to improve the guest experience.
• E-menus: Tablets including menu items and wine selection are
presented to guests in the restaurants to improve their dining
experience more accurate understanding of their selection.
Guest Education and Inspiration
We know we have an important role to play in implementing
sustainable business practices that minimise harm and maximise
benefit to the environment, the economy and our local
community. But we also know our efforts can only be more
successful in partnership with our colleagues, guests, owners
and communities. Therefore, we aim to create awareness
among our guests and inspire to implement programmes and
to communicate clear messages relating to protection of local
environment, community and the culture.
Plant a Tree with Rotana: Rotana hotels in UAE initiated the
“Plant a Tree with Rotana” project to raise funds to plant 100 Ghaf
trees and 15 Cedra trees through corporate planting programme
of “Give a Ghaft” organisation in the UAE and Emirates
Environmental Group, EEG. The funds are raised during 5 months
through selling 333 of a specially produced “Plant a Tree with
Rotana” mug across all Rotana properties in the UAE.
Engaging our guests
We know that by engaging and educating our guest we can
achieve better results. In 2014, we implemented 123 activities
and campaigns aiming to raise our guest’s awareness towards
environment and health issues.
Earth Hour: a global climate change awareness campaign
organised by World Wide Fund for Nature/World Wildlife Fund
(WWF), was started in Australia in 2007 and has become an
annual global environmental activity. Rotana hotels joined the
hundreds of millions of people around the globe in switching off
lights in the various back and front of the house areas for one
hour on March 29, 2014 at 8:30 pm and doing various activities
to entertain guests and colleagues while in the dark.
In Park Rotana Abu Dhabi, Engineering Team designed an Earth
Hour signage powered by LED lights which is linked through a
cross trainer. The lights was lighted only by people using the cross
trainer. Guests participated in the event. We called this activity
Get Fit and Light Up.
UAE Green Festival: Rotana hotels in UAE have participated in
the UAE Green Festival, a month long countrywide celebration
that is specifically designed to educate people across the seven
emirates about a new way of life that’s achievable in an enjoyable
and sustainable way.
The festival started from 16 March and ended on 16 April 2014
During this period hotels initiated exciting activities to educate
and engage guests:
• Launching ‘the sustainable table’, which is a green menu in all
day dining restaurants
• Guests sports activities
• Guests planting activities
• Recyclables arts and crafts competition
• Guests environmental education and awareness
46
Rotana colleagues from different departments created 324 arts
and crafts pieces out of recyclable items. The finished arts and
crafts are displayed in the hotel lobby and hotel guests were
asked to vote for the best piece of their choice.
Arts and Crafts pieces created by Rotana colleagues
In 2014, we have implemented 123 activities and campaigns
aiming to raise our guest’s awareness towards environment
and health.
Guest Health, Safety and Security
Ensuring the Health, Safety and security of our guests is of prime
importance to us; therefore we have deployed health and safety,
security, food safety and emergency management systems in
line with local and international guidelines and standards. These
systems are designed at corporate and hotel level to ensure safe
areas.
Safeguarding food safety
At present, 84% of our operating hotels are certified under
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) for food
safety management system implementation and the focus is to
ensure all our hotels will be certified.
• During 2014, a total of 36 third part audits were conducted
in Rotana properties by third part auditing company, Bureau
VERITAS, resulting in a total of 37 HACCP certified hotels
• Three hotels newly achieved their certification in 2014
• Total number of Non Conformances Reports (NCRs) raised
during the 36 audits dropped from six NCRs in 2012, four in
2013 to only one NCR in 2014 for the whole group
• Total number of observations/numbers of Rotana hotels audited
dropped from 7.22 in 2012 to 5.7 in 2013 and 5.06 in 2014
• Total Number of NCRs/numbers of Rotana hotels audited
dropped from 0.6 in 2012, 0.1 in 2013 to 0.03 in 2014
In 2013, 91% of our hotels food handlers were trained on the
basic level of food safety and 87% in 2014, that beside the
intermediate and advanced food safety programme and HACCP
trainings for supervisory and managerial level. To further raise
the bar on safeguarding food safety and hygiene, our aim is
to have all our food and beverage operations go beyond their
local regulatory requirements to achieve Hazard Analysis and
Critical Control Points (HACCP) certification in six months of
the opening date.
47
HACCP Certified Hotels
Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority
audit scores
2013
2014
Number of
inspections
Average score
139
97%
79
40
37
34
35
32
30
97.8%
Total number of inspections conducted in 11 hotels in Abu Dhabi by the
food control authority.
*
25
22
20
16
15
Rotana suppliers evaluation programme
In 2013 and 2014, we have audited 147 food
suppliers, rejected 12 suppliers for non-compliance
with Rotana Food Safety Standards.
Total of 515 supplier’s evaluation audits
completed till date.
Safeguarding health, safety
Rotana is continuously working to improve the Emergency,
Health, and Safety performance in our hotels. After deploying
the Environment, Health and Safety management system across
all Rotana hotels, we started implementing the EHS management
11
10
7
5
3
1
0
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
84% of Rotana hotels are HACCP (Hazard Analysis and
Critical Control Points) certified
system manual, monitoring and reporting quarterly on our
performance to evaluate progress.
A corporate health and safety framework was developed in
2013 in order to improve the H&S system’s implementation and
practices. It includes the following stages:
√ Achieved
I Health and safety awareness and culture
¨ On Plan
Status
• Develop and launch EHSMS corporate manual
√
• Develop and launch LIFE EHS module for orientation programme
√
• Develop EHS basic awareness training
√
• Develop H&S communication procedure (posters, boards, signage, intranet)
√
• Measuring colleagues and guest’s security, health and safety perception about Rotana
√
• Develop H&S awareness campaigns for all hotels
√
II Hotels hazards identification and risk assessment
48
• Complete EHS team certification training on risk assessment
√
• Develop EHS risk assessment procedure
√
• Develop EHS risk assessment training materials and tutor notes to train all HODs and Assistants
√
• Conduct departmental generic SOPs risk assessment
¨
• Conduct hotels site risk assessment
¨
• Amend Rotana generic SOPS to include H&S steps
¨
• Develop occupational H&S procedures and programmes
¨
IIIHotels health and safety inspections and auditing
¨
• Develop hotels H&S checklists for routine EHS team inspection
√
• Develop H&S audit guideline and protocol to be used for:
¨
- Annual audits (part of EHS/SUS audits)
¨
- Hotels biannual self-assessment/internal audits (scores, classification of hotels risks)
¨
- Integrate minimum H&S criteria's in all CVPs audits
¨
- Amend H&S policy, linking it to incident reporting and investigation policy
√
IVIncidents reporting and investigation
• Develop a corporate incident reporting and investigation procedure
√
• Develop a corporate incident reporting and investigation training
√
• Amend HR H&S policy, linking it to incident reporting and investigation procedure
√
•Harmonise and create e-fillable online H&S incidents reporting form
√
• Calculate and analyse quarterly and annually over all company’s H&S performance and indicators
√
V Fire and emergency response
¨
• Complete and launch corporate emergency management plan
¨
• Develop and launch LIFE: Fire and emergency module
√
• Develop a harmonised corporate fire and emergency refresher training all hotels
√
• Develop fire and emergency response mandatory awareness training
√
• Develop a policy for mandatory drills frequencies for all emergencies (hotel and corporate level), including
colleagues accommodation
√
Al Maha Arjaan by Rotana, UAE
Al Bustan Rotana, UAE
On World Health Day, the hotel management initiated a free
medical check up to celebrate the day inviting all in-house
guests and colleagues to have their health screened with
diabetes screening, blood pressure checkup, BMI, physician
consultation, diet advice.
Was the first hotel in the group to achieve the OHSAS
18001 – Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series
in 2014. Many hotels are targetting to achieve the said
certification in 2015.
Erbil Rotana, Iraq
Park Rotana, UAE
Guests were invited to the hotel kitchen and shared their
cooking experience with the chef. Our executive chef
presented health and safety tips for food preparation.
To ensure availability of first aider at all times for guests
and colleagues, an FCS phone to be called is provided to
nominated first aiders. Though there is always a first aider
in every department, there are times when a first aider is
not nearby especially during the night. Thus, they assigned
an FCS number which is configured through the operator
with assigned alerts and escalations if an issue has not been
attended to. The FCS phone is assigned to colleague nurse
during the day and to security during the night. The other first
aiders continue doing their responsibility in their respective
departments and whenever called upon. The nominated first
aiders are to be called on emergency cases and whenever
there is no first aider available nearby.
49
Fire safety and emergency
Fire safety in Rotana hotels have equal importance with other
business objectives. This is driven through the executive vice
presidents for strict implementation by general managers
and annually audited in all hotels by engineering to ensure
performance and practices are in line with Rotana’s fire safety
standards built with reference to the USA National Fire Protection
Associations.
As part of its EHSMS programmes, Rotana requires its nominated
contracted companies to have an Emergency, Health, and
Safety Management System (EHSMS), the implementation and
observation of which must then be approved and monitored by
our hotels.
An emergency management plan was developed by a corporate
emergency planning committee. The manuals describe processes
to address emergency, natural disasters, health risks and other
threats to business continuity, including data security and
backup, guest and colleague’s safety and safeguarding of property
and assets.
The deployment of Health and Safety and Security Management
systems and action plans has helped us to improve guest
perception of safety practices at our hotels.
50
Safeguarding guests security
Our hotels we have invested in various security measures like
luggage screening, metal detectors, x-rays machines, regular
training of security personnel and organising awareness
campaigns for guests. At the corporate level, we have constituted
a security policies committee that reviewed and harmonised the
company security policies, processes, implementation of security
procedures and preparedness of hotels for security risks.
Socio-political and ecological drivers
Political instability, conflict between nations, threat of terrorist
activities, occurrence of infectious diseases, extreme weather
conditions, natural calamities, etc. directly affect level of travel
and business activity. While we have minimal control over
these risks, we diligently observe the national and international
conditions for taking any decisions or adapting our operations.
In 2014, hotels fire safety audits were
completed in our hotels achieving
an average audit score of 87%.
Privacy and data protection
Our robust security measures and privacy management
programmes help us give our guests and colleagues the
confidence that we are safeguarding their personal data and
respecting their privacy. The way we handle privacy and security
is a vital part of our responsibility to our guests and essential to
the success of our business and to strengthen our reputation
through our efforts in these areas.
Our hotels guests trust us with their personal information and
their privacy. Protecting that information and respecting their
privacy is fundamental to maintaining that trust. Our privacy and
security programmes govern how we collect, use and manage
guests information – from ensuring the confidentiality of their
personal profile to protecting and securing their information
before, during and after they stay in any Rotana hotels.
To ensure this is executed well, we use technology to make it easier
and more secure and we include checking on its compliance during
the annual IT audits as well as front office audits.
Our targets for 2015
Education and inspiration
• Implement 100 activities and awareness campaigns in all
Rotana operating hotels engaging and educating guests on
health and environment topic
Guest health and safety
• Reduce guest health, safety incidents by 10%
• Further improve our disabled guests rooms standards to
meet universal access guideline
• Review our policies and procedures for universal access
to enhance disabled guest experience
• Revise our baby sitting procedures and add training
requirement on specific babysitting beyond CPR and
pediatric first aid
Guest satisfaction
• Improve LRA sustainability audit score
• Improve the group Rotana guest satisfaction survey
results
51
Our Colleagues
52
53
54
07
“LIFE” has its rewards
At Rotana, we know that the single most important factor in
keeping a property at peak performance is its manpower.
Our human resources vision is to be the preferred employer by
sourcing potential candidates, providing job security and career
enhancement through training and development and creating a
sense of belonging and loyalty within Rotana hotel’s team.
Our sustainability goals
• We will ensure guests satisfaction and provide value for money through
the realisation of sustainable business and operational efficiency
• We will protect the health, safety, privacy and security of guests by
adhering to international principles that respect human rights
• We will instill a culture of sustainability through education and promotion
of sustainability values and principles amongst our colleagues
• We will protect the health and safety of our colleagues by adhering to
international principles that respect human rights
• We will ensure colleague’s satisfaction and wellbeing at work
Our focus areas
•
•
•
•
Engagement
Learning and development
Fair employment
Welfare, health and safety
Our progress
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
‘Engage to Life’ satisfaction survey score √
Strengthening executive and leadership development ¨
Reduce turnover √
Minimise occupational health and safety incidents by implementing a holistic health safety framework ¨
Improving incidents reporting system by rolling out an online security, health and safety incidents reporting tool √
Develop and launch the corporate emergency management plan √
Improve colleague participation and volunteering hour’s contribution in different activities √
Achieved √Ongoing ¨
55
Profile
With 20 years’ experience of hiring competent people in the
industry to run our hotels and resorts, it makes the service
experienced by our customer world-class. Attracting, developing
and retaining the right talents are fundamental to our success.
We aim to ensure colleagues development, training and retention
strategies. We operate surveys and competency programmes,
participate in career fairs, as well as a centralised recruitment
system that gives access to colleagues from around the world.
Our priorities
Value to the business
Talent acquisition
To attract and source the right talent, in line
with our on-going workforce expansion.
Leadership development
To develop a robust and diverse pipeline
of leaders.
LD resources
To enrich our learning and development
resources and portfolio with new competency
/values driven programmes.
I believe that the
lowest paid job at a
hotel is very often
the most important
for its success. You
can go to the best
hotel in the world,
but if your plate is
not polished, your
glass is not clean, or
the bellboy not as
friendly as the
manager, you may
not want to head
back there, It is our
people that make
all the difference to Rotana’s continued success.
Selim El Zyr
Vice Chairman
Colleagues engagement
To maintain a highly engaged, empowered
and accountable culture.
The total permanent headcount in our hotels at the end of 2014
was 11,031 colleagues. The overall gender split of our colleagues is
81% male and 19% female. The age profile also remains relatively
young (53.5% younger than 30 years, 2% older than 50 years.
The proportion of senior managers (Department Head and
General Managers) is 4.53%.
Colleagues by country
10,000
Colleagues by gender
8,396
20
8,000
6,000
2012
2013
2014
4,000
10
2,000
121 439 365 164 216 327 412 210 325
56
0
)
t
t
r
ain gyp stan wai non man ata abia dan Syria UAE
hr
E di
u eba
Q Ar
Su
O
K
r
i
L
Ku
ud
(
a
S
q
Ira
Ba
56
0
% females
total colleagues
% females
management level
12,000
Colleagues by level
Total number of full time
colleagues
10,000
Senior management (#)
Mid management (#)
Line colleagues (#)
11,000
5,000
10,000
9,000
0
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2011
2012
2013
2014
Colleagues by age
100.%
2012
2013
2014
50%
0%
Our Rotana careers website alone attracts talents from more
than 182 nationalities, as we have already more than 232,000
applicants registered on our careers webite.
18-30
31-40
41-50
51-60
57
Engagement
In 2013, Rotana entered in an agreement with Aon Hewitt
to conduct ‘Engaged to Life’ the company’s new colleagues’
satisfaction survey to give our colleagues the opportunity to give
constructive and honest feedback to enhance their Rotana LIFE
experience. The engagement survey enables us to:
• Assess colleagues’ attitudes and beliefs about their work
activities, opportunities, quality of work life, company
procedures and policies, rewards, people, etc
• Identify the extent to which colleagues are observing and
managers are supporting the desired behaviors throughout the
organisation
• Reinforce the idea of shared responsibility to improve business
results
• Identify key drivers of colleague engagement
At the corporate level, we also take actions to strengthen our
colleague’s engagement during their employment with Rotana as
it has a direct impact on their loyalty, retention and willingness to
recommend the company as a preferred employer.
You opinion will shape our future
In 2014, 8,603 colleagues participated in the ‘Engaged to
Life’ survey representing 84% of eligible total colleagues,
4% higher than 2013. Overall colleague engagement score is
66%*. This is 2% increase compared to 2013 (64%) and 6%
above the average Middle East scores, placing Rotana in the
moderate zone.
*The 2013 and 2014 survey results are reported without comparison with
previous years since a new survey methodology is used. However we
benchmark with the Middle East and market average.
• Learn whether different groups of colleagues have different
needs or issues
The engagement survey is administered by Aon Hewitt itself.
“Colleague’s engagement is an investment we make
for the privilege of future proofing our organisation’s
productivity and performance.”
The Aon Hewitt engagement model is based on measuring and
studying three key behaviors displayed by colleagues:
Say: 77% of Rotana colleagues would not hesitate to recommend
Rotana to a friend seeking an employment.
Strive: 71% of Rotana colleagues agree that Rotana motivates
them to contribute more than is normally required to complete
their work.
The survey findings also showed that there was room for us to
improve on total rewards, opportunities and quality of life. At the
hotel level, focus group, departmental actions plan are submitted
to the corporate office to address feedback gathered from the
survey and actions to be implemented.
58
Emphasising dialogue and engagement
Starting from the corporate office to all hotels, we do foster an
atmosphere of open communication. Our hotels use different
means to ensure that colleagues are informed, kept updated and
their opinion heard at all time: notice boards, weekly meetings,
monthly team gathering and meetings. The senior management
of each hotel engages all colleagues on different matters and
seek their feedback or concern during round table lunches or
breakfasts. The different type of meetings and gatherings are held
to keep colleagues updated on priority business issues, celebrate
achievements, recognise guest’s champions, and distribute
awards and encourage colleagues to express their concerns and
expectations.
100
0
Group
(18-30)
0.9
0.8
1.4
1.4
0.9
50
4.1
5.1
5.2
4.9
5.1
26.7
28.8
29.1
30.2
29.5
Rotana CHAT was launched in 2014, a quarterly virtual
presentation, where Rotana colleagues engage in a live chat
with the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer.
While conveying Rotana’s strategic direction and updates, Rotana
CHAT offers the opportunity to establish a productive and
transparent dialogue with the company’s executives: updating
colleagues on priority business issues to and encouraging them
to express their concerns and expectations. With the ambitious
company’s growth, expanding geographical spread and the
raised communication expectations of the digital age, the CHAT
is indeed an essential tool to ensure that our brand’s culture
and stories are aligned across the company with an emphasised
dialogue and engagement.
Turnover rate by age (%)
65.2
68.2
64.1
63.7
64.5
To complement these initiatives, we have implemented an online
system CHAT (Candid Honest Actual Talk) to facilitate structured
communication of Rotana hotel colleagues with the company’s
executive.
Group
(41-50)
Group
(51-60+)
Group
(31-40)
Turnover by region/country (%)
120
100
80
Turnover rate (%)
40
36.6
37.2
34.9
32.0
60
29.7
40
30
20
n
Ab
ia
u
& Dh
Al ab
Ai i
Du n
ba
i&
NE
da
Sy
r
Su
ar
an
KS
A
at
Q
m
O
q
Ku
w
ait
Le
ba
no
n
Ira
Eg
yp
hr
ain
Ba
t
0
20
10
0
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Retaining our colleagues
With the various engagement programmes and human resources
practices, we were able to reduce our colleague’s turnover in
2014 by almost 3% less than 2013 and have reduced the female
turnover rate from 6.3 to 6.1%.
59
Learning and Development
At Rotana we believe in ‘setting out to win’ by creating the
competitive advantage, understanding the industry, our business,
the market and our guests. We believe in ‘Winning through
People’ by building through relationships and developing the
capability of the people to meet current and future needs and we
believe in ‘Delivering Impressive Results’ by translating vision and
strategies into action to deliver results and continuous success.
We update our learning and development programme based on
the annual analysis of training needs across the company.
On-stage programme: Even in today’s information and
technology-driven age, excellent public speaking skills remain
central to excelling personally and professionally. Every
presentation can truly make or break a manager’s career. The
2-day ‘On-stage’ programme has been tailored in line with Rotana’s
competencies ‘Influencing Outcomes’ and ‘Building Relationships’.
It covers the presentation and public speaking skills required to
deliver a successful business presentation.
In light of the company’s business development plan and to
enrich our learning and development resources and portfolio with
new competency/values-driven programmes, a series of new
development programme were introduced or updated in 2013
and 2014:
• More Time For You programme
• Presentation Skills and Public Speaking programme
• Duroob Development programme (GCC Nationals)
• Leading Hoteliers programme
• Effective Coaching programme
• Rotana Guest Experience programme
Unit
2013
2014
Total training hours
Hours
340,940
347,258
Average hours of training per
Colleague
hours
19
31.48
Total training cost
USD
2,317,373
2,769,775
Developing our colleagues
Developing our colleagues and talents is a central component
of our learning and development strategy. We offer an array
of learning opportunities for colleagues across the company.
In addition to the many different programmes Rotana has
established to develop our people, in 2013 and 2014 we launched
the following programmes beside Leadership Development
Programmes LEAD.
• Mentor for Life programme: the programme was created
to develop the mentoring relationship between mentors
and mentees and to enable the company’s mentees to
optimise their full potential. The 2-day programme covers the
fundamentals of mentoring, the relationship between mentor
and mentee and various development theories that can be
applied in the relationship.
• Winning Business Case programme: As executives manage
the resources of their departments, justification for projects
or initiatives is imperative in order to advance a manager’s
cause. In most occasions, a business case is required to
document the initiative and to move it through the approval
and funding process. The 1-day programme covers how to
write a persuasive business case that will allow participants to
withstand challenges from individuals who do not fully support
their initiatives.
60
Leadership Development Programme
In light of the group’s business development plan, Rotana General
Managers LEAD Development Programme, LEAD 1, 2 and 3
continue to remain for the 4th year an effective programme
to developing a robust and diverse pipeline of leaders and
improving their skill sets to ‘stay in the competitive market’ and
to become well equipped to support the group in expanding its
portfolio. Since the programme rolled out in 2011, we engaged 52
selected executives in a range of job simulations, ability tests and
personality questionnaires, which reflect the essential behavioral
elements of the role. The process is based on a standardised
process to drive objectivity and fairness and is widely regarded as
one of the most accurate and valid procedures of determining an
individual’s strengths and development areas.
The LEAD 2 programme places strategic emphasis on the
development of Executive Assistant Managers at Rotana.
The LEAD 3 programme embodies Rotana’s commitment to
develop our high potential Department Heads. It offers them the
opportunity to enhance their competencies and to achieve their
career aspirations to become Executive Assistant Managers.
Since we initiated the LEAD programme in 2011, we have
developed 52 participants:
•
LEAD 1: 24 General Managers
•
LEAD 2: 12 Executive Assistant Managers
•
LEAD 3: 10 Department Heads
TAROT programme
The Accelerated Refinement of Talent - is a fast track
development programme in which participant will be
trained over a period of 18 months with progressive growth
opportunities. It will give them a chance to ‘create their own
deck’ and choose from options that best suit their learning style.
The programme covers all the necessary areas needed for a
future managerial role with Rotana. The plan focusses on the
development of the competencies, technical skills as well as the
way to manage people.
The number of TAROT colleagues
reached 23 in 2014.
Performance management reviews
The Rotana performance reviews policy enables us to
communicate performance expectations to colleagues at the
start of the year thereby ensuring that day-to-day actions
throughout the year contribute to the achievement of business
strategy and to provide a formal process to accurately evaluate
performance as a basis for sound business decisions in
compensation management, succession planning and talent
management. For three consecutive years. The first stage of the
Performance Management Reviews is the Performance Planning
where the line manager and colleague meet at the start of the
year to discuss job responsibilities, agree on performance goals
for the year ahead and plan the personal development needed to
support effective performance. 100% of our eligible colleagues
(completing six months) received an annual performance review.
Recognition and awards
Rotana Guest Service Champion Awards recognises the
behavior and effort of a colleague who goes the extra mile to
create a ‘Treasured Time’ experience and promote Rotana as a
guest caring brand.
Long Service awards: Are given to our colleagues to recognise
and encourage their loyalty towards Rotana for completing 5, 10,
15 or 20 years and boost their morale.
Life cards: Are a formal acknowledgement of a person’s
behavior, effort or business result that supports Rotana or
the property’s goals and values and which has clearly been
beyond expectations. Communicating and celebrating the
employee’s performance encourages the colleague and
others to continue or copy the behavior.
Colleagues personal development plan
Unit
2011
2012
2013
2014
Number of
promotions
944
1,017
1,084
1,091
1,115
Number of
inter-company
transfers
494
398
540
426
561
2,334 LIFE cards were issued to our
colleagues in 2013 and 2014.
Service Champions award
LEAD 2,
Bloc 1, 2013
LEAD 3
Programme,
Bloc 1, 2014
Rotana Awards are established to recognise individual properties
as well as individual General Managers for their continuous efforts
and commitment towards exceeding company’s expectations,
demonstrating exemplary performance and achieving excellent
results in the following areas; GOP, Guest Satisfaction, Colleagues’
Retention, Corporate Social Responsibility, Innovation, Owners
Relations, Sustainability and Duroob Programme. Rotana Awards
were presented during the annual General Managers conference
for the following criterias:
• Chairman’s Award
• Hotel of the Year Award
• Hotel Achiever of the Year Award
• Manager of the Year Award
LEAD 3
Programme,
Bloc2, 2014
• Hotel Opening of the Year Award
• President’s Award
Promotions and inter-property transfers
To demonstrate the company’s commitment to career
development, the promotion and inter-company transfer
policies reward high performing colleagues by promoting them
or transferring them to other Rotana properties thereby retaining
knowledge and skills within the company In the process, we
motivate and encourage colleagues to participate in their own
self development and strengthen the image of Rotana as a
preferred employer. A minimum notice period of one month is
given to colleagues before an approved inter-property transfer
is done.
61
Rotana Earth award
In 2013, we added the Rotana Earth Sustainability Award to the
company’s awards to recognise our hotels’ efforts for achieving
outstanding sustainability results.
Rotana Earth
module
In 2014, we added
and developed a new
sustainability module
to Rotana’s orientation
programme to introduce to
our new joining colleagues
the Rotana Earth
sustainability platform
and educate them on
sustainable practices.
We hope our colleagues
will be more engaged
and be inspired to take
individual actions in
making a difference.
Villa Rotana, winner of Earth Award 2013
Fair Employment
Rotana is committed to providing an inclusive, non- discriminatory
workplace which gives opportunities of continuing development
to all colleagues as well as fair consideration to all applicants
regardless of gender, age, nationality, religion or disability. At
our operations across the world, Rotana adheres to all local laws
relating to worker rights and we also takes significant steps to help
ensure that there are no violations of worker rights, including
forced or compulsory labour, among contractors.
Our colleagues comprise more than 82
nationalities from around the world.
A grievance procedure is available to any colleague who believes
that he or she may have been unfairly discriminated against.
Rotana is committed to fair employment practices without
discrimination. A human resource policy is available for equal
opportunity to ensure that:
As part of the routine Human Resource audit of hotels, the
corporate office monitors the implementation of this nondiscrimination and grievance policies, and that compensation,
benefits, promotions, transfer opportunities, training and other
benefits are administered without discrimination.
• All colleagues and job applicants are treated equally regardless
of their race, colour, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, or
gender
As a result of the policies and the auditing practices, during the
last two years there were no violations of rights for indigenous
people and no incidents of discrimination.
• All properties recruit, develop, promote and reward individuals
on the basis of experience, abilities, and qualifications and in
accordance with business needs
According to information supplied by each hotel, in 2013 and
2014 approximately 6.9% of permanent colleagues in Egypt
and Sudan participated in some form of collective bargaining
agreement between workers and hotel management.
Diversity and equal opportunity
62
We do not participate in forced and compulsory labour or child
labour of any kind. Our policy on age of employment is to strictly
observe local laws and regulations in every country of operation.
Colleagues benefits and compensation
The total paid in colleagues’ salary,
benefits and rewards in 2014
220.1 Million USD
At Rotana, total compensation comprises colleague’s wages and
benefit that reflect competitive local market standards, fairly
competitive within the hospitality sector in the MENA region and
are above the standard entry level wage where applicable in the
countries where we operate.
The company’s management relies on the following for the
remuneration, compensation and benefits decision:
• Hotels grouping
• Hotel positions grading system/population
• Positions salary scale by region
To this end, we structure our compensation profiles to reflect
salaries, performance and equity across job position. And to
ensure that its compensation package retains its competitive
edge, Rotana participates in an annual compensation and benefits
survey and has signed an agreement with Aon Hewitt, a 3rd party
company for salary surveys.
• Performance management policy
Rotana also offers food and beverage discounts and stay over
discounts for colleagues and for colleagues’ friends and relatives.
To encourage colleagues to be involved and to participate in the
success and growth of the company, a performance management
policy has been established to reinforce the company’s belief
that the good performance of our colleagues directly reflects
on our growth, and colleagues who contribute with their good
performance merit recognition and rewards, thus motivating
them to be highly productive on an ongoing basis. Therefore
men and women are treated equally in the salary administration
process.
Overtime is duly compensated and a policy is developed so that
our colleague’s passports are secured with human resources.
• Competencies framework
• The Rotana Balance Score Card (RBS) policy to fairly recognise
and reward eligible colleagues for their contribution and good
performance
63
Welfare, Health and Safety
Rotana’s commitment to colleagues Health and Safety has
remained steadfast throughout the company’s history.
The company has worked diligently to implement several
programmes, initiatives, policies, and guidelines to protect its
most valued resource - its colleagues, thus resulting in 0 work
related fatalities. In 2015, we aim to enhance our injury and
illness prevention programmes through more robust post-incident
investigations. In 2014 we have embarked on developing and
implementing a health and safety framework that includes:
• Adding health and safety induction module to the group
orientation programme and mandatory awareness training to all
colleagues’
• Preparing the risk register for the operational departments’
activities as per the company’s generic SOPs
• Developing health and safety inspections checklists and audits
protocols for all departments
• Improve fire and emergency response management plan. We
also began to introduce a new online incident reporting and
investigation programme with accompanying online reporting
form, policies and procedures across all operations to formalise
the reporting of workplace incidents. This new system helps
improve internal controls and injury prevention measures.
All operations also have a health and safety committee,
which meets regularly to review performance and devise the
appropriate improvement. We will continue monitoring and
rolling out the new online health and safety reporting tool
to improve the group operations performance on incidents
reduction
Al Bustan Rotana achieves
OHSAS 18001: 2007
Al Bustan Rotana Dubai, has achieved the Occupational
Health and Safety Management System Certification. This is
a high level health and safety management system process
which contains systematic approach of identifying and
managing various health and safety hazards lying at the work
place. Additionally, OHSAS 18001:2007 helps the hotel to
define the optimum working conditions for the colleagues
to reduce workplace hazards and boost colleague morale,
creating a positive environment.
In parallel, several activities, awareness campaign and
programmes were implemented to boost the health and safety
culture of our colleagues.
Every hotel appoints a designated person, environment, health
and safety manager or officer to oversee health and safety
issues and to establish an EHS committee which comprises
representatives of various departments who meet on a monthly
basis to review progress, develop programmes, investigate
incidents, develop awareness campaigns and set corrective
actions and control measures in the operation.
The Environment, Health and Safety Management System,
EHSMS, manual was rolled out across all opearting hotels in
different regions.
Rotana – Daman health
and wellbeing programme
The Rotana-Daman wellness programme was implemented
to raise Rotana’s colleague’s health awareness and help them
achieving a work -life balance. The enrolled participants:
• Attended health awareness session
• Completed health risk assessment
• Completed the medical health screening (weight, BMI,
fat %, muscles %, metabolic rate, water %, blood sugar,
blood lipid profile)
• Attended one to one meeting with a personal coach to
assess, classify the colleague health risk level and to draw
individual participants’ road map
• Tracked personal activities using the Fitbit tracker with
individual goals set for each colleague
• Attended weekly fitness classes, increased daily activities
and followed a healthy diet
More than half of the participants had poor to fair heart
fitness. 16% of the males had superior heart fitness while only
4% of the females have so.
Risk category
28%
47%
Male
28%
Low
40%
25%
Medium
High
20%
28%
Female
32%
52%
64
Lost time injuries rates
Al Ain Rotana, UAE
World No Tobacco Day
30
2013
20
10
Hotel colleagues carried out formative acitivities including a
month long competition of who among our colleagues had
stopped smoking, for how long and why? Announcement of
winner and prize was given during the team meeting. Another
activity included the distribution of Quit Smoking flyers
courtesy of Al Noor Hospital to all colleagues and guests and
explaining the benefit of it, the activity was joined by several
volunteered colleagues.
2014
19.98
10.75
3.75
3.75
0
Lost Time Injury
Frequency Rate
Lost Time Injury
Severity Rate
A corporate policy for colleague health and safety is in place and
a policy for incidents reporting and investigation was issued for
reporting incidents, improving its investigation and preventing
re-occurrence, monitoring incidents data and rate.
We are constantly improving the way we track safety data. For
the last two years, our injury rate, lost day rate and occupational
disease rate were calculated only for Abu Dhabi, UAE hotels. The
lost time injury freqeuncy rate dropped from 10.7% in 2013 to
3.7% in 2014. Similarly the lost time injury severity rate dropped
from 19.9% to 3.7% in 2014.
We continue training all our colleagues on the new incindent
reporting policy and the online reporting system for incidents and
near misses to calculate these rates for the whole group. This will
help to ensure consistent classification of incidents across the
hotels, which will improve the data and the monitoring of our
performance in this important area. We will be able to calculate
these data in 2015 and was set a a KPI for all hotels.
An emergency management plan is developed for the company
to ensure that all hotels are capable to deal with different types
of emergencies and colleagues are trained on the response
procedure.
Training is fundamental to our approach in managing health
and safety concerns. Across our operations, various health and
safety training programmes of different levels were provided
to colleagues, including the mandatory health and safety and
emergency module introduced during the Rotana orientation
programmes. Workplace safety, fire safety and first aid were the
main training topics covered beside specific intermediate and
advanced levels of health and safety trainings.
Ebola awareness training
Consequent to the spread of the deadly Ebola disease, we
have developed training materials and mandated all our hotels
to train colleagues on it to provide them with necessary
information about the disease and its prevention, and the
procedure to respond to the epidemic infectious disease
emergency.
Al Ghurair Rotana by Rotana, UAE
The hotel organised in collaboration with local hospitals
a free medical camps for eye, scalp analysis and bone
density, dental checkup, GP consultation and homeopathic
consultation. Almost 100 colleagues participated.
Our targets for 2015
Colleagues profile
• Reduce colleagues turnover rate
• Increase workforce female% and senior female
Health and Safety
· Calculate and report on the group colleagues injury rates
and lost day rates
• Achieve zero work related fatalities or incidents resulting
in permanent disability
• Complete hotels site and workplaces risk assessment
• Complete 80% training on environment, health and
safety and sustainability basic awareness training
• Enhance our support for colleague wellness and work-life
balance
• Hotels to implement the Emergency Management Plan
Engagement
• Continuously improve Engaged to Life survey score 65
Our Environment
66
67
68
08
Our Environment
Nature is the basis of our wellbeing and our prosperity. We
continue to make strides in our efforts to managing our
operations in a manner that protects our valuable natural
resources, prevents pollution of the environment, reduce
our consumption of energy and water and improve waste
performance and materials consumption.
Our sustainability goals
• We will manage our operations in a manner that protects
our valuable natural resources and prevents pollution of the
environment, in compliance with environmental laws
• We will minimise our impact on climate change and reduce our
consumption of energy and water by optimising operational
efficiency and adopting clean technologies
• We will optimise materials consumption and reduce waste to
landfill by reusing and recycling natural resources and materials
Our focus areas
•
•
•
•
Energy
Water
Waste
Biodiversity
Our progress
•
•
•
•
•
Reduce energy consumption by 3% √
Reduce water consumption by 5% √
Reduce general waste disposal to landfill by 10% √
Increase waste recycling by 15% ¨
Reduce A4 and ink cartridges consumption by 10% √
Achieved √Ongoing ¨
69
The group’s annual KPIS and long term goals set out our
commitments and provides a clear framework for driving
continuous improvement. We have found that as we increasingly
look at our operation through a sustainability lens, it opens up
new opportunities for driving innovation, efficiency and cost
reduction while further enhancing the standard of our services
and products:
Despite business growth, we used 9% less water,
4.3% less energy, generate 10.4% less waste,
recycled 7.4% more waste in 2014, than we did
in 2013 across the group. We are also prioritising
responsible sourcing as a standard practice,
replaced 23 products to more environmentally
friendly products and substituted 83 imported
products to locally produced products.
A nod to our commitment
Al Bustan Rotana, Rotana’s flagship property in Dubai recently
made a significant mark by earning the internationally
recognised ISO 14001 certification for environmental
management systems in line with its advancements in
sustainability standards.
ISO 14001 is an international standard that provides a set of
standardised requirements for environmental management
systems. Companies gain certification by implementing policies,
procedures and systems that follow and meet ISO standards,
which are assessed by a third-party certification body.
19 of our hotels are targetting the ISO 14001
certification in 2015.
To drive continuous improvement on our environmental
performance, we have set in 2015 annual KPIs for water, energy,
waste and materials use.
In 2014 we have saved more than 1 M USD on waste
management, water and energy bills.
Energy
Through discipline, creativity and new technology, we continue
to improve our energy, water and waste performance by
improving our environmental programmes on water conservation
and reduction, energy conservation, waste management and
recycling and food waste reduction programmes. We continue
to pursue initiatives and collabourative efforts with property
owners, colleagues and guests to develop and implement more
initiatives and programmes to further improve our performance.
Lighting
Our engineering department is always looking for more energy
efficient lighting options: CFL, LED, timers, photocells. The
ongoing re-lamping exercise started in 2010 has resulted in
replacing 65% bulbs to LED lamps in UAE hotels and an average
of 45% of total bulbs in all our hotels were changed to LED lamps.
Energy optimisation
The heating and cooling systems consume the most energy in
a building. In addition to the technical process, our engineers
understand how to manage cost, safety, efficiency, as well as
heat balance and outside climatic conditions:
• The variable frequency drives (VFDs) are installed on 41% of
our total hotels pumps and on 42% of our hotels air handling
units that helps to optimise energy load to the demand of our
ventilation systems and pumps
70
Al Salam Rotana, Sudan
In 2013, Al Salam Rotana, Sudan replaced more than 1,300
halogen lamps in the hotels to LED lights reducing the energy
demand by 86%, 54,100 kw saved in 2013 by changing:
• 900 spot light from 50w to LED 7w
• 250 bulb from 60w to 8w
• 100 spot light from 25w to 4w
• Building management systems installed in 67% of our hotels,
helps to further optimise the energy consumption by centrally
adjusting guestroom thermostats and public areas temperature
and is commonly integrated into new construction and
renovations
• Guestroom energy management systems that use keycards to
activate or deactivate electrical power for lighting are installed
in 96% of our hotels and for FCUs in 48% of our hotels
We estimate that our completed actions
have resulted in an energy reductions
4.3% kwh per occupied room and
20,947,809.6 MJ (20947.8 GJ).
Adopting clean technologies
Currently four Rotana hotels partially source power from onsite
renewable energy. The solar panels installed in four hotels saved
2,057,710 MJ in 2013 and 2014. However we are still behind
our target to add the percentage of energy from renewable
sources. More study and budgeting will be put to improve our
performance on renewable energy sourcing
Ozone depleting substances
The ODS have a detrimental effect on the ozone layer, damaging
the Earth’s protection against excessive levels of solar radiation.
The Montreal Protocol regulates the phase-out of CFCs, halons
and other ozone-depleting chemicals internationally. Older
systems in our hotels and properties are the main sources of our
ODS emissions. We are aiming to replace all ozone-depleting
refrigerants in use by the group by continuing our efforts to
upgrade our current systems and changing to environmentally
refrigerants across our hotels.
Our estimated ODS emissions were 240 kg CFC-11 equivalent in
2013 and 235 Kg CFC -11 equivalent in 2014 compared to 246 kg
in 2011.
Energy and carbon reduction
In 2013 and 2014, we continued the pursuit of improving our
energy performance and carbon footprint through initiatives
trainings, education, technology andoptimisation and were able
to reduce our energy consumption by 1.16% per square metre and
4.3% per occupied room than 2013. Hence resulting in a saving of
800,000 USD on our utility bills.
In 2013 we have started calculating our carbon emission for the
UAE hotels. Our energy and water consumption in 2014 generated
a total of 638,347 tonnes of CO2 equivalent, 9,199 tonnes more
than the previous year while our carbon intensity increased only
by 1.4% to 649 kg CO2e per square metre.
Energy
Unit
2013
2014
Total energy
from non
renewable
sources
Kwh
501,800,645
495,981,809
Direct
Kwh
73,837,336.10
65,572,381.40
Indirect
Kwh
427,963,309
430,409,427
Energy
intensity kwh
per occupied
room
Kwh/OR
175.3
167.7
404.90
400.20
Energy
intensity
Kwh per m2
Kwh/m2
Amwaj Rotana, UAE
Earth Hour ‘Concert in the Dark’
As part of the hotel’s commitment to support the Earth Hour
initiatives, the hotel switched off the lights for 60 minutes
in all public and private areas of the hotel. As a result, an
estimated 58% in energy consumption during that hour was
saved. The hotel has hosted a special unplugged concert on
the terrace during that special hour featuring three of the
hotel’s colleagues as well as guests who had volunteered to
join in the cause.
Energy intensity
kwh/m2
Energy intensity
400.20
Energy intensity
kwh/OR
404.90
0
167.7
2013
175.3
2014
100
200
300
400
71
Information Technology
As an emerging topic in IT management, ‘Eco friendly IT’
practices are drawing high interest among our hotels, as well as
suppliers, manufacturers and service providers that we deal with
on daily basis.
With the growing body of evidence demonstrating the
potential return on investment resulting from adopting green IT
approaches, a big focus in our 2013 - 2014 IT strategy was on
implementing innovative solutions that reduce our utility bills and
make our procurement practices more responsible. We are also
implementing technologies that massively reduce the space we
occupy in our data centres and power required to operate and
cool these systems. In the coming year, we will work even harder
to identify opportunities for improvement.
Al Ain Rotana, UAE
Several initiatives to save energy
consumption initiated
• Converting 12 physical servers to virtual, which reduces
power consumption by 50%, cooling by 50% and space
requirement by 75% in the MDF room
• Removing 8 photo copiers, 15 local printers, 4 scanners
• Introducing centralised 3 in 1 printer/copier/scanner that
reduces the power consumption and space requirement
Smart printing programmes installed in 2014
in our hotels saved 13.49% on A4 papers and
16.3% printing ink cartridges units.
Water
Water scarcity in the Middle East, Northern Africa and other
arid regions of where we operate requires urgent action,
as rapidly growing economies intensify the demand for this
precious resource. Studies have shown that more than 40%
of the world’s population will be living in water-stressed areas
by 2030, majority of countries where our properties are
located, are among the world’s most water-stressed places.
Solving this challenge requires intellectual collaboration and
decisive implementation of next-generation technologies. We
fully recognise the gravity of the issue and the importance of
promoting water sustainability in arid regions and developing a
long term plan in response to the water challenge.
In 2014, Rotana has set a goal to reduce 5% water consumption
versus 2013 in terms of both total water consumption and water
consumption per guest night.
Our hotels analyse and report the monthly amount of water
consumed and its cost to evaluate progress towards annual
set targets.
Water awareness training is given to all our colleagues as part of
the Environment, Health and Safety awareness training and to
the new joiners during the orientation environment, health and
safety/sustainability module.
Rotana’s corporate engineering office review a selection of best
practices within the group for water conservation and endorse
Across our hotels, in 2014 we used 9%
less water than 2013.
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these practices to be adopted group-wide and in new projects
where appropriate. They undertake a cost benefits analysis to
determine which water conservation measures meet the business
needs without affecting guest’s expectations by identifying the
specifications of water aerators or other devices
Our Rotana guest voluntary towels and bed sheets reuse
programme continue to engage more of our guests and involve
them to participate in the programme.
In 2013 and 2014 we installed water-efficient fixtures in more
than 60% of our hotels and we have add the installation
projects for water recycling system and sewage treatment in all
our new resorts.
In UAE, around 2.5 Million rooms were
sold, 80% of our guests participated in our
voluntary bed sheets reuse programme and
1.15 Million towels were reused by guests.
The water intensity of our hotels in 2014 was 548 litres per
guest night, 9% lower than 2013 and 9% lower than the 2012.
Our objectives for 2015 is to achieve 3% water intensity further
reduction and to assess potential areas of water savings.
Across our hotels, we used 2.53 million
m3 of water, 9% lower than 2013 with
2.60 million m3.
Hotels water intensity
0.65
0.605
Water intensity
0.6
0.549
0.55
Villa Rotana, in collaboration with Dubai Electricity and
Water Authority (DEWA), Dubai Refreshment (P.J.S.C.) and
Wild Wadi Water Park, celebrated World Water Day 2014, by
giving an awareness session about water conservation, water
and energy, and sustainability. The event aimed to strengthen
awareness on the need to rationalise the use of electricity
and water, and to adopt eco-friendly and energy efficient
technologies, which will enable us to further reinforce its
committed efforts to conserve natural resources.
After the awareness session, a group of colleagues from Villa
Rotana, Rihab Rotana and Rimal Rotana distributed 1,000
Aquafina water bottles to municipality and construction
workers working outside in harsh conditions across specific
areas in Dubai.
0.5
2013
Villa Rotana, UAE
World Water Day
2014
Yas Island Rotana, UAE
During 2014, the hotel implemented several initiatives to
save on water consumption including the installation of water
savers, and has resulted in 22% water saving less than 2013
with around 14,000 cbm.
Fujairah Rotana Resort and Spa, UAE
‘My Planet, My Life’
The hotel hosted a one day conference for school students
to create awareness on the impact of global warming and
the importance of sustainability. The conference ‘My Planet,
My Life’, the first initiative of its kind in the region, had the
objective of encouraging the future generation towards
caring and saving the environment. The presentation titled
‘My Planet, My Life’ was aimed at generating awareness and
commit their actions to the future of the country and the
planet. It included various environmental sessions, quizzes,
and competitions.
Water
Unit
2013
2014
Total volume of water
m cbm
2.6
2.53
Water intensity volume
of water per
cbm
0.6
0.55
Total volume of water
recycled and reused
cbm
161,830
267,983
%
5%
8.5%
Percentage of water
recycled
School kids learn to embrace global sustainability
at Fujairah Rotana Resort & Spa
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Waste
In the last two years, across Rotana hotels, we have improved
our waste management programme to eliminate, minimise wastes
at source as well as to reuse and to recycle it. 90% of our hotels
are monitoring and reporting on general and recyclables waste
production and segregation. Some of the achievements under this
programme include:
Increase of recycled waste by more than
four times, from 160 tonnes in 2011 to
1019 tonnes in 2014.
As for used cooking oil, we have recycled 40% of the total used.
Some of our hotels outside the UAE do not have full data about
their waste generation, because of non-availability of service
provider qualified. The scope of this indicator is only the UAE
hotels.
In 2014, 1,019 tonnes of dry waste and 122,603 litres of used
cooking oil were diverted from landfill for reuse and recycling.
Compared to 2013, we reduced the waste we generated by 733
tonnes and increased dry waste segregated by 75.5 tonnes.
Food waste
Rotana deals with qualified waste contractors in different
countries to further expand recycling and reduce waste
production by training our colleagues and making recycling more
convenient and comprehensive for them. Four programmes
were developed to underpin the waste performance results:
Waste management programme, hazardous waste management
programme, food waste management programme, Green
Office Programme. The programmes are rolled out to all Rotana
properties. The progress outside the UAE is slower owing to the
lack of recyclables collection companies in certain countries of
operation. Nevertheless continuous efforts are taken to reduce
general waste generation.
Food security and food waste is an especially important issue in
the Middle East. Globally, 30–50% (or 1.2–2 billion tonnes) of all
food produced is lost before reaching a human stomach. Food
waste is most significant component of hospitality waste and we
do recognise our role to reduce food waste in our hotels, much
of it preventable by better portioning, managing, storage and/
or preparation. A study was done in five hotels in Abu Dhabi
in collaboration with Masdar Institute to analyse the quantity
of food wasted per food cover produced for a lunch buffet,
breakfast buffet, a la carte menu and including Iftar Ramadan
buffet. Based on the relatively high results, a food waste reduction
programme was launched for all food and beverage department
colleagues to implement. We are aiming to report separately the
quantities of food waste per cover per hotel to better monitor
hotels performance.
In 2014, UAE Rotana hotels’ waste
segregation efforts resulted in saving more
than 29% on waste disposal expenses and
reduced 10% kg wet waste/guest night
from 2013.
We can still further improve our waste management performance
by continuously monitoring and improving our practices and
most importantly involving our colleagues as well as guests and
suppliers. Food composting machines are installed in some of
our big hotels, and several meals are donated daily to charitable
organisations and labour camps.
All group operations report their waste management performance
on a monthly basis. This discipline has helped us improve our
understanding of the nature and quantities of the resources
we use and the waste generated. Waste disposal methods vary
across our operations, largely due to available solutions and
infrastructure in the communities where we operate.
We contract with several asset disposal companies to recycle our
e-waste as well, including computers, servers, printers, network
equipment and associated components to divert it from landfill
disposal. Several hotels work with various charities to reduce wet
waste and hazardous waste collection companies for fluorescent
tubes, paints, solvents and dry cleaning chemicals.
In 2014, Rotana UAE hotels paid various
contractors around 250,000 USD to
collect the hotels’ general waste. In
parallel we were able to successfully
generate an amount of 100,000 USD
from recyclables waste segregation
including glass, paper, cardboard, plastic,
cans and used oil.
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Al Bustan Rotana, UAE
The hotel joined hands with Royati Society in 2009 and
designed a mechanism in coordination with the local authority
to pack and dispatch back up food from events, weddings
and big catering functions. The project runs throughout the
year and in a ceremony it was highlighted by the society that
Al Bustan Rotana contributions were top in the list exceeding
6,000 meals in the year. The hotel managed to conserve
wastage, environment and made sure the food that is still
perfect to eat, reaches those ones who are in need. The
activity has multi-dimensional impact on the environment, the
community and the hotel’s financial expenses.
Waste*
Beach Rotana, UAE
The hotel installed a composting machine with a capacity
of 270 kg maximum. The main waste streams are kitchen
food waste and garden waste. The machine has a capacity of
270 kg of input of food waste, which gives around 2.7 kg of
compost after 24 hour process. The reduction percentage of
food waste is 85-90%. Till May 2014, Beach Rotana reduced
around 5-10% of waste being sent for disposal, givining it a
reduction of 40% of the total quantity of segregated food
waste. We also installed in waste management room located
outside the receiving area of Beach Rotana.
Unit
Total weight of
non-hazardous
waste sent to
landfill
Kg general waste
per guests night
2012
Tonnes 9,505 11,054
kg
Total weight of
Tonnes
recyclable waste
diverted from
landfill
Total weight of
recycled waste
increased
2011
%
2013
2014
12,620
11,887
3.61
4.25
3.39
3.04
160
745
800
846
78.52
6.88
5.39
UAE hotels waste only
*
Materials
The hospitality business involves usage of perishable products
like grocery, meat, fish, poultry, vegetables, fruits, milk and milk
products, to a large extent. More than 70% of the total material
consumption is attributed to these perishable products. Such
products have a low-shelf life and hence have to be stored at
optimum levels in order to reduce wastage.
In our hotels we consume a significant number of papers, printer
cartridges, check out folios, guest folios, beside rooms amenities,
key cards, laundry bags, slippers, housekeeping, laundry and
stewarding activities that involve usage of solid and liquid
chemicals. Forestry that is managed poorly has catastrophic
environmental and socio-economic impacts. Uncontrolled
deforestation in the paper and timber industry supply chain is a
significant global issue.
Materials consumption
Unit
2012
2013
2014
Number of toners/
cartridges used
Units
10,861
9,068
8,059
Total A4 reams of
papers used
Reams
75,000
65,525
60,237
Total weight of A4
papers used*
Tonnes
150
131
120
Total A4 sheets
used/per guest
Sheet/
guest
14.4
7.7
6.6
Including office A4 papers and letterheads
*
We realise the potential environmental impacts of our material
footprint and have deployed initiatives to measure, monitor and
optimise consumption.
We currently have forms placed on our portal to be filled
online and we are continuously focussing on identifying
administrative and control processes to redesign and enhance
the efficiency with the development of technology e-procedures
implementation to reduce significantly the paper use.
We have started to assess the paper we utilise for printing,
copying, offices, collateral we buy and to review how we may
ensure that our operational needs are not met at the expense of
exploiting the world’s forest resources.
In line with our Green Office Programme, all of our UAE hotels
have shifted to A4 office papers made from post-consumer
recycled materials.
In 2014, 100% of UAE Rotana hotels
had shifted to A4 office papers
made from 100% post-consumer
recycled materials as part of the
Green Office Programme, which is
equivalent to 81% of total group A4
paper consumption. We used 49,275
reams, 7.45% less than 2013 with
53,246 reams.
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Used frying oil
In 2013, a corporate agreement was signed for the collection
of used frying oil from all properties in the UAE for recycling
purposes by a specialised company. All our restaurants in the
UAE and outside the UAE (wherever oil recycling companies
are available) have participated in the used cooking oil recycling
programme by providing it to local vendors, hence diverting
waste cooking oil from landfills and preventing harmful liquid
waste from contaminating groundwater supplies.
In 2014, we recycled 39.5% of used
cooking oil almost 8% more than 2012.
Frying oil
Unit
2012
2013
2014
Total volume of frying oil consumed
Litres
247,514
302,786
310,679
Total volume of recycled frying oil collected
Litres
78,458
114,379
122,603
%
31.70
37.78
39.46
0.04
0.04
The weight of reused frying oil as a percentage of the total input oil used.
Total oil used per produced cover
Recycled garden
Paperless day activities
Khalidiya Palace Rayhaan by Rotana, UAE
In April 2014, the hotel announced the opening of the
recycled garden aiming to promote among guests and
colleagues awareness on materials conservation, sustainable
environmental practices and ‘green’ future. Several colleagues
put their hands together and transformed ordinary recycled
items into up-cycled ornaments and a sensational salvaged
garden consisting of innovative containers, fridge, cooking
pots, stands, washing machine, painted plastic bottles, bins
and other selective recycled items for the garden, along with
a wide array of colourful flowers and plants.
Al Salam Rotana, Sudan
The department heads demonstrated their commitment to
environmental sustainability with a responsible initiative to
stop printing and using papers during their meetings, instead
they started using their personal ipads to ensure paper free
meetings. Average of 15 heads of department per hotel use
an average of 7,500 sheet a year for morning briefings only,
hence by adopting the same initiative in sister hotels, the
group saves 337,000 A4 sheets a year and saving 45 trees,
3,370,000 litres of water, beside the purchasing cost saved.
The hotel guests and head of departments gathered around
the creative recycled garden whist admiring turning waste
into a beautiful garden.
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Litres/cover
Al Maha Arjaan by Rotana
and Raouché Arjaan by Rotana
A paperless day was implemented as an awareness to
all colleagues on the importance of reducing paper
consumption. Monthly monitoring of paper used per
department and acknowledging the paperless hero during
mionthy meetings. Both the hotels were able to reduce 380
A4 reams (190,000 A4 sheet).
Green Building Design
Whilst we are committed to providing the highest standard of
luxury products and services to our customers, we are conscious
that buildings account for about 40% of global energy and 25%
of global water use, with significant impact on the world’s carbon
footprint. Buildings are also a prime origin of municipal solid
waste which is expected to double in volume over the next 10
years, presenting grave environmental and social challenges. This
makes energy, water and waste management a clear priority from
the design stage to the operation. We are working to integrate
green building criteria in our new projects standards taking into
consideration architectural design, building materials, mechanical,
electrical and plumbing requirements.
Eco-hotel at the Sustainable Living Expo at
WFES 2014, UAE
Eco-hotel layout of the Sustainable Living Expo at WFES 2014
Eco-hotel rooms
In January 2014, Rotana participated in the World Future Energy
Summit, Sustainable Living Expo by showcasing a real size
hotel room suite, a concept that is based on water and energy
efficient solutions for urban environments, aiming to promote
sustainability and resource conservation in urban areas by using
the environmental, technological, economic, and social dynamics
for selecting building materials, furniture, equipments electronics,
room management system, decorative items, sanitary wares,
carpets and tiles.
The Rotana eco-hotel exemplifies good eco standards for the
hotel industry and for Rotana to hopefully become the new
standard to which the next generation of hotels strive to emulate.
It is innovative and pushing the hospitality industry standards
on gainful, environmental responsible design, procurement and
operation.
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Biodiversity
The web of species and ecosystems that makes up our planet
– provides us with the vital services our lives depend on. Yet
this rich diversity is being lost at an alarming rate, due largely
to unsustainable human activities. The Living Planet Report
from WWF (the world’s leading, science-based analysis on the
health of our only planet and the impact of human activity) was
published in October 2014 and the report reveals some hard
facts:
• The world has lost more than half its wildlife over the last four
decades
• The dramatic decline in animal species could cost the world
billions in economic losses
• Population is growing at a fast rate and a majority will live in
cities: from current 7.2 billion (3.6 live in cities) to 9.6 billion
(6.3 will be in cities) in 2050
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We do have some of our hotels built in areas of high biodiversity
value, the Grand Rotana Resort & Spa in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt,
built adjacent to the coastal corals. However we believe that
tourism can be instrumental in safeguarding biodiversity and we
ensure a direct cooperation with the tourism authority in Sharm
el Sheikh two safeguard corals area while continuing to attract
large numbers of visitors.
Over the years Rotana has taken up various actions within the
framework of global sustainability for biodiversity and we are
now shaping a global strategy to protect the lands ecosystem and
safeguard biodiversity in the areas where Rotana hotels are built by:
• Assessing the natural system of the project site before the start
of the design process and site clearance
• Protecting the natural system assess and mitigating the impact on
the natural system by a good design and management systems
Turtle protection Saadiyat Beach Resort
Protection of endangered fish species, UAE
Since Rotana hotels started construction on Saadiyat Island,
during the turtle nesting season, we collaborated with the
contractors and the developers to ensure that we do not
disturb the turtles nesting at the project site beach, thereby
ensuring the protection and preservation of our natural
environment and biodiversity.
The Cove Rotana Resort is very concerned about the ecology
particularly the status of the local fish stock in the UAE.
Studies carried out by the UAE government show that many
species of fish are being taken out at an unsustainable level.
These fishes are hamour, fersh, zuraidi, shaari, qabit, yemah,
kanaad and safi arabi.
The hotel contributed in the protection of endangered fish
species by choosing to buy sustainable fish only, to help lower
the demand for the threatened species. The hotel followed
and supported the campaign of the EWS-WWF, a national
leading environmental NGO. EWS-WWF works at the federal
level to conserve biodiversity and promote sustainable living
through education and conservation initiatives.
Ghaff Tree Planting, UAE
The Ghaff tree is native to the UAE and has been recently
declared as the UAE’s National Tree.
In Bahrain, it is referred to as the ‘Tree of Life’ because
of its multi-purpose properties to prevent desertification
(desertification is not just an ecological issue but also one of
shrinking food and water supplies) and to improve soil. It is
also a great survivor against fierce temperatures, strong winds
and high rates of water loss.
With the contribution of Rotana hotels in Abu Dhabi, 1,000
trees were planted.
Oryx Rotana, Qatar
Save the mangroves
The hotel participated in a cleaning activity held at the
mangroves with collaboration of ‘I Love Qatar’ at Al-Khor
beach. Everybody played their part to clean up as much as
possible and to demonstrate what a caring community can
do to help the environment. The hotel colleagues managed
to make a difference by sharing more than 110 hours to this
activity. The goal was to educate through awareness and
hopefully encourage people to think twice before they throw
something on the ground.
Our targets for 2015
Energy
• Reduce energy consumption by 5% baseline 2013
Water
• Reduce water consumption by 8% m3 per guest night
baseline 2013
Waste
• Reduce general waste tonnes generated by 5%
baseline 2014
• Increase waste recycling and segregation by Waste
recycling increase by 5% baseline 2014
• Waste diversion rate 5 ≥10%
• Oil recycled of total oil used to reach 50%
Materials
• Reduce A4 reams usage by guest by 5%
• Reduce Ink cartridges usage reduction by 5%
Green building design
• Revise Rotana building design standard to integrate green
biding design criteria
Biodiversity
• Evaluate the new projects site and assess its impact on
the biodiversity
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Our Community
80
81
82
09
Our Community
Our community development and engagement work continues
to grow every year. We strive to integrate our aspirations for
supporting the development of our communities with our core
operations. In 2014, 325 activities were implemented in our
hotels and 29,663 volunteering hours were contributed by our
colleagues to engage more with our communities and respond to
their needs in a strategic, relevant and focussed way. The aim is
to bring lasting benefits to these communities.
Our sustainability goals
• We will instill a culture of sustainability through education and promotion of sustainability values and principles amongst our
community
• We will contribute to the society we work and live in by supporting local community needs and promoting sustainability and the
cultural values of our society
• We will contribute to local and national economic development through local employment and the promotion and growth of
sustainable tourism
Our focus areas
• Contribution
• Nationalisation
Our progress
• All operating hotels to organise at least five activities engaging
colleagues and two engaging guests to contribute to the
communities in the country of operation (225 activities for
the group) √
• Develop and implement an online reporting tool to effectively √
• Communicate and report on engagement activities and
initiatives in our hotels √
• Calculate the monetary contributions, volunteerism
contribution, in kind contribution √
• Develop group ‘Impact’ programme at corporate level ¨
Achieved √Ongoing ¨
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Contribution
With our fast expansion, it is essential to continuously evaluate,
calculate and report on how much the company is giving back
to the communities where we operate, as they provide the
resources, infrastructure and markets that support our businesses
and it is to our mutual benefit and responsibility to keep
enhancing them.
Over the last two years, Rotana’s initiative has expanded even
more to touch the lives of hundreds of people through yearround community engagement programmes and fundraising
initiatives and other activities. We are looking continuously to
further enhance our community engagement programmes.
In order to ensure that the company’s Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) activities and sustainability best practices are
planned, implemented and reported efficiently in line with our
strategies, an EHS policy on ‘Corporate Social Responsibility and
Best Practices Execution and Reporting’ was issued in 2014 to be
implemented in all operating hotels:
Total community engagement activities
Unit
2012
2013
2014
Total community
engagement
activities*
#
195
165
325
Company monetary
donations**
$
250,000 270,000 312,448
During 2013 and 2014, Syria properties did not participate in
activities due to the country’s political issues
**
Cash monetary donations only
*
• To identify where our contributions are going and to analyse
the public benefits from our activities
• To ensure that the activities are implemented across the
company to leverage the strong sustainability commitment and
engagement among all hotels
• To raise motivation among all Rotana properties to participate
more in initialising and implementing community driven
engagements and sustainability activities
Increasing Rotana Earth sustainability and CSR activities remains
among the company’s business priorities for two consecutive
years. To underpin that, we have set, as part of the annual
sustainability KPIs for 2104 a target for our hotels to plan and
execute five communities’ engagement activities and two
sustainability activities engaging guests and to plan our activities
in a way to respond to the communities need in an innovative,
relevant and focussed way. Our aim is to make a real impact and
bring lasting benefits to these communities.
In addition to monetary donations, we also provided a variety
of in- kind contributions by offering rooms, meeting and event
venues, to support certain causes or organisations.
Community development strategy
Our Community Development framework includes engagement
of the communities at different levels and in different aspects.
The hotels giving programmes and the corporate giving
programme. Our hotels strive to support the communities in
the country of operation through employment opportunities,
through procurement from local suppliers, fundraising, monetary
contributions or in kind contributions. We have initiated the
development of a corporate giving programme in 2014, targetting
to complete and launch in 2015.
In 2014, we have contributed and or
partnered with more than 63 organisations
in the region: 47 in UAE and 16 outside
UAE. Our donations totalled 527,510
USD of which about 313,000 USD was
donations and 215,000 USD colleagues
volunteering hour’s value.
Unit
2014
Total activities reported
#
273
• To evaluate our contributions in terms of cash contribution,
colleagues fund raising, in kind contribution and colleagues
volunteering hours
In kind contribution value
$
157,269
Colleagues fundraising
$
5,464
The policy provides a guidance on:
Cash contributions
$
149,715
• Preparation and submission of an annual CSR activities plan
Total monetary contributions
$
312,448
• Effective execution of CSR activities
Colleagues volunteering hours
Hours
29,813
• Reporting on total contributions (monetary, non-monetary, in
kind, cash, fundraising)
Colleagues volunteering hours value
$
215,061
Total contribution
$
527,510
Total activities/campaigns involving
guests
#
123
Hours
2.7
As a result, we were able to better evaluate our contributions
value to the community as a group in terms of community
engagement activities, colleagues volunteering hours, fundraising,
in kind donations and cash contributions.
In 2013 and 2014, 98% of our hotels had
participated and implemented activities
engaging local community.
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Average volunteering hours per
colleague
Rotana and Harmony House
Rotana hotels in the UAE supported this year’s festive event
of the Harmony House with donations of raffle vouchers,
helping the organisation meet its 2014 target of raising more
than double of what was collected in 2013. Harmony House
is an organisation that is dedicated to improving the lives of
children on a physical, emotional and intellectual level and
aims to give enriching experiences to children.
“We are grateful to Rotana for their support in helping us to
keep Harmony House alive,” shares Lucy Bruce, Director of
Harmony House.
UAE Green Festival
Arts and Crafts Competition
• We will instill a culture of sustainability through education
and promotion of sustainability values and principles
amongst our community
• We will contribute to the society we work and live in
by supporting local community needs and promoting
sustainability and the cultural values of our society
• We will contribute to local and national economic
development through local employment and the promotion
and growth of sustainable tourism
Rotana
& Harmony
House
Al Ghurair Rayhaan by Rotana, UAE
Community Centre for Elderly
‘Family Gathering Centre’
The hotel has generously contributed to the elderly event
by donating lunch boxes for all patients. Giveaways, towels,
slippers, toiletries were also donated to elderly patients.
Think Pink, Breast Cancer Campaigns
Rotana hotels took part in the global fight against breast
cancer during the whole month of October as the hotels
commemorated Breast Cancer awareness month. The monthlong initiatives included different activities aiming to spread
more awareness against the disease, which is currently one of
the most widespread types of cancer all over the world. Many
colleagues participated in the annual Pink Walkathon, several
awareness lectures took place for colleagues and guests with
breast cancer check-up.
Al Ain Rotana, UAE
Walk for a Cause Children with Cancer
Hotel colleagues walked for the fourth time to support
children with cancer in collaboration with Red Crescent.
Many residents from Al Ain participated in the walk and an
amount of 36,000 USD was collected for the organisation.
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Al Murooj Rotana, UAE
Fun Day with special needs
The SNF Development Centre provides an institution for
young adults with special needs and their inclusion into the
common workplace and to be independent in a variety of
daily activities. The children and the dedicated team of SNF
were treated to an exciting event day planned in collaboration
with the centre’s management and featured fun games for the
students with prizes and gifts, a breakfast and lunch buffet
prepared by the hotel’s master chefs and multiple other
activities set up by the hotel team.
Give Blood, Save Lives
Rotana hotels organised blood donation campaigns in an
effort to educate the community about the importance and
benefits of donating blood to help save lives.
839 colleagues donated 378,000 ml
blood, equivalent to 252 large bottles
of water.
Al Maha Arjaan by Rotana, UAE
Children’s Day ‘Fun Day Event’
Earth Day, Battle of the Bottles
Khalidiya Palace Rayhaan by Rotana initiated the ‘Battle of
Bottles’ boat race, a unique environmental sport activity
realised under the umbrella of Earth Day 2014. By organising
the ‘Battle of Bottles’ boat race, Khalidiya Palace Rayhaan by
Rotana celebrated Earth Day 2014 in Abu Dhabi with the aim
to show support for the protection of the environment and to
educate the audience towards climate change and creating a
sustainable future for the planet and our children.
The boats registered for racing were solely made out of
recyclable materials, mainly plastic PET bottles. Innovative
and creatively designed boats were paddled and peddled to
the opposite island and back in a nail biting contest that lasted
15 minutes. Each team battling to win the coveted trophy
of recycled water bottles. 10 Rotana hotels in Abu Dhabi
participated in the boat race
The hotel celebrated Children’s Day by inviting children
with special needs along with their teachers for lunch. They
enjoyed the entertainment and shows like magic show, face
painting, cupcake decoration, and clown with balloon making
and took with them special giveaways. The children thanked
the team by presenting a dance number where all in the room
danced with them.
Beach Rotana, UAE
Make a Difference Day
The hotel hosted its annual charity event, ‘Make a Difference
Day’ for the 13th and 14th year running in 2013 and 2014. The
afternoon event, offered families a fun day out where kids
enjoyed a variety of activities such as a bouncy castle and other
carnival games. The most popular activity of the afternoon was
the dunking pool. The hotel collected more than 130,000 USD
and were donated to different charitable organisations.
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Centro Barsha, UAE
A glimpse of my dream
Grand Rotana Resort & Spa, Egypt
Universal Children’s Day
A two-week campaign where the kitchen team went to the
bakery workshop section of Al Noor School for disabled
children and taught the children how to enhance their pastry
items. On the 2nd week of the activity, the children got the
chance to visit the Centro Barsha kitchen and get a glimpse of
how it feel to be real junior chefs for a day. The smile and joy
on their faces as they put on the chef uniform were evident
on them. The activity aimed to provide children with special
needs a chance of experiential learning, allowing them to feel
that they are no different from anyone else.
On Universal Children’s Day the hotel succeeded in
bringing together more than 32 kids in one place practicing
activities with the shared ambition to be good stewards of
the environment. The theme was ‘Children’s education is
imperative to sustainable development’.
Erbil Rotana, Iraq
Erbil Marathon
Centro Sharjah, UAE
Training programme for children
with special needs
The hotel participated and sponsored the Erbil Marathon.
The purpose of the run was peace and solidarity in Erbil, the
hotel has contributed also to raise the participants awareness
towards the environment and the importance of recycling the
water bottles used in the marathon.
The Cove Rotana Resort, UAE
Universal Children’s Day
On the occasion of Universal Children’s Day, The Cove
Rotana Resort organised a range of innovative and fun
filled activities for students of Ras Al Khaimah Academy.
The students enjoyed a warm and friendly welcome by the
Cove team highlighted with exciting educational games, face
painting and competitions.
For a two month period, the hotel trained two students
with special needs on different administrative work in the
hotel in preparation to be able to be appointed for certain
administrative positions in the hospitality sector.
Villa Rotana, Rimal Rotana and Rihab
Rotana, UAE
Graduation ceremony for students
with special needs
On its 5th graduation ceremony, four students of Rashid
Centre with special needs successfully passed the industrial
training programme of Villa Rotana, Rimal Rotana and Rihab
Rotana held for 10 months. The students were prepared to
join the hospitality industry jobs.
87
Towers Rotana, UAE
Trekking for Harrison’s fund
Raouché Arjaan by Rotana, Lebanon
Yes they are very important kids
Trekking for a good cause from the UAE to Mount Everest in
support of Harrison’s fund. In March 2014, six enthusiastic
adventurers, led by the representatives of Towers Rotana,
teamed up to travel from the UAE to Nepal to take on the
mighty Himalaya and reach the summit of Gokyo Ri (5,357m),
standing opposite Mount Everest, inspired by the story of a
very brave young eight year old boy, Harrison Smith.
Because they deserve all the care and all the happiness in the
world, we at Raouché Arjaan by Rotana, decided to adopt 11
children with special social needs from l’école des Soeurs de
la Charité de Besançon, offering them unforgettable moments
in their lives. Noting that this commitment will be ongoing till
the end of the year where each department will adopt one
or more kid(s) from the 11 children and prepare activities for
them and invite them to lunch and dinner.
Harrison is suffering from Duchene Muscular Dystrophy, a
killer disease that will end his life and all patients suffering
from the same disease before they are 20 years old.
Arjaan Rotana Dubai Media City, UAE
Adopt a camp charity Iftar
Iftar boxes were distributed to labourers in Dubai.
Rose Rayhaan by Rotana, UAE
Universal Children’s Day
The hotel held different activities for kids with special needs
and to raise awareness about their integration to society.
88
Majestic Arjaan by Rotana, Bahrain
Universal Children’s Day
Oryx Rotana, Qatar
From darkness to light
On the occasion of Universal Children’s Day, Majestic Arjaan
by Rotana organised a range of innovative and fun filled
activities for the children from Batelco Child Care Centre.
The children enjoyed a warm and friendly welcome by the
Majestic Arjaan by Rotana colleagues highlighted with exciting
educational games, face painting and competitions followed
by dinner at Ginger, the all day dining outlet. On that day,
children were divided into teams and joined by the volunteers
in various group activities and games where the winning
teams were rewarded with prizes.
A dinner to support Orbis ‘A dining experience with a
difference’, wearing a blindfold in a darkened room while
you are served a set tasting menu. This is an opportunity to
experience not just a delicious meal, but something truly
sensual and unique; by removing the sense of sight, the
senses of taste, touch, smell and hearing can be heightened,
and It’s a chance to find out what it’s like to not have you
eyesight, and to gauge the precision of your palate.’
Media Rotana, UAE
Dubai Centre for Special Needs
Park Rotana, UAE
Ambassador’s Wives Charity Event
Media Rotana supported the Dubai Centre for Special Needs
(DCSN) in making a difference in the lives of Special Needs
students by displaying greeting cards and paintings that have
been handcrafted by the talented students which were then
sold by our team members in the restaurants, lobby and other
areas. Towards the end of the activity, the funds raised were
donated to the Dubai Centre for Special Needs.
The hotel hosted the Charity Bazaar organised by Diplomatic
Group of Spouses of Ambassadors. Proceeds from the bazaar
went to Haiyan tyhpoon victims.
Hala Arjaan by Rotana, UAE
Art from the Heart
Jumeirah Rotana, UAE
Charity Iftar
Hala Arjaan by Rotana presented paintings made by students
of the Special Care Centre in an exhibition titled Art from
the Heart at The Gallery. This is an effort by Hala Arjaan by
Rotana to build the self-esteem and talent of the students at
Special Care Centre.
Jumeira Rotana in collaboration with ERE Homes and WSP
joined forces to give out Iftar and Care packages to labourers
this Ramadan. More than 150 packages were distributed
among the people of labour camp at Al Quoz.
89
90
Nationalisation
As the leading hotel management company in the Middle East
and Africa, we strongly believe that by doing more to nurture
local talent, nationalisation within the hospitality industry will
grow from strength to strength. Our nationalisation programme
‘Duroob’ gives us the drive to recruit nationals and to contribute
to the community in which we operate, by developing them,
integrating them in the private sector and offering increased
opportunities in the hotel industry. It also supports the initiatives
undertaken by the respective governments towards implementing
the nationalisation programme. By offering a healthy work
environment, best training and extensive colleague development,
we carve each GCC national’s successful career for the future
and promise to make it a rewarding one.
As for countries outside the GCC, we also ensure to support
local economies by creating employment and stimulating
economic activity. New jobs are created in various countries
for the locals to further boost their life quality. The number of
Egyptians working in Egypt hotels constitute 99.09% of total
colleagues, in Iraq, Iraqis constitutes 23.31% of total colleagues, in
Lebanon 99.07%, in Sudan 88.85% and in Syria 96 .34% of total
colleagues.
Local employement-non GCC - 2014
1000
Number of local colleagues
800
Number of total colleagues
600
431 439
365
400
294 325
216 213
127
200
50
56
0
Egypt
Iraq
Lebanon
Sudan
Syria
It is common practice for Rotana hotels to give preference for
local employment in each country of operation. The majority of
our colleagues in all our non GCC hotels are nationals.
Duroob programme - GCC
Unit
2012
2013
2014
Number of Duroob
programme participants
#
147
212
275
Percentage of senior
nationals who are managers
%
2
2
2
Your Duroob
There are no better
people to run the
tourism industry
in the GCC region
than the nationals
themselves, they
know our countries
and they can see the
potential of growing
with it.
Nasser Al Nowais
Chairman
Our targets for 2015
Contribution
• All operating hotels to organise at least five activities
including cause marketing campaigns engaging guest to
contribute to communities in the county of operation
• Engage colleagues in different activities as a minimum
of 10% of colleagues participation and to contribute a
minimum of 2 hours x total number of colleagues
• Develop a corporate giving programme
• Identify an impact programme for each property to
develop every year
91
Our Suppliers
92
93
94
10
Our Suppliers
We work with a diverse range of suppliers to source raw
materials and products to support our operations around the
world. We seek to buy at competitive rates but not at the
expense of labour standards or the environment and we are
continuously working to improve our sustainable purchasing by
buying more sustainable materials for our hotels.
Our sustainability goals
• We will address sustainability issues in our supply chains, with the goal of minimising the negative environmental and social impacts
of our procurement decisions whilst meeting our financial and quality requirements
• We will make preference to source locally and from sustainable sources in order to support the local communities and environment
Our focus areas
• Supplier assessment
• Responsible supplies
• Local supplies
Our progress
• Develop and implement a sustainable procurement code ¨
• Add compliance with the code as a contractual standard in all
corporate procurement agreements ¨
• Substitute two imported products by hotel to two locally produced
products and two others to more environmentally friendly products √
• Conduct suppliers screening using environmental, labour practices,
human rights and impact on society criteria ¨
• Run supplier satisfaction survey to further enhance our relation
with suppliers ¨
• Evaluate our supplier’s performance and awarding agreements
accordingly √
Achieved √Ongoing ¨
95
Suppliers Assessment
Building Rotana is a hospitality service industry and our supply
chain is comprised primarily of tens of thousands of suppliers of
products and services required to serve our guests in our diverse
properties. We maintain a complex inflow of diverse goods and
services ranging from furniture and fittings, food and beverages,
equipment, transportation and IT, communications and other
technology support systems. Our supply base is local to the
country of operation and in many cases, imported.
In order to ensure the highest safety and quality of food and
beverage, a supplier qualification programme was implemented
since 2008. It consists of a pre-qualification and physical
assessment of the vendors in line with the corporate and local
regulatory authorities requirements.
We have not started assessing or screening our suppliers and
contractors on sustainable and responsible business practices.
Suppliers assessment
Unit
2010 2011
2012 2013 2014
Number of food
and beverage
suppliers audited
#
22
22
40
73
74
Average achieved
audit score
%
65
65
71
72
70
Number
of rejected
suppliers*
#
2
2
2
2
10
We currently have around 50
signed corporate agreements and
understandings with various suppliers
that resulted in more than 1 million
USD saved in 2014.
Following the launch of the responsible procurement code
in 2015, we will start surveying our major suppliers by a selfassessment questionnaire to assess their environmental, labour,
social and human rights practices as well as their compliance
with the code. In the last two years, we have progressively
incorporated environmental requirement in corporate
procurement decisions.
Till date, we have completed 515 food
and beverage suppliers audit and
rejected 19 suppliers failing to comply
with our requirements or achieving an
audit score below 60%. The average
achieved score by the total of 515
audited suppliers was 71%.
Audit score below 60%
*
Responsible Supplies
Over the past few years, we have become more conscious of
the environmental and social impact of the products we select
from our suppliers. Responsible buying is one of our focus areas,
we aim to maintain providing quality products while looking to
source ethically, sustainably and locally.
Across hotels, we have developed a purchasing management
programme, with the aim to give guidance to each department
on sourcing products which are more sustainable in their
manufacture, use and disposal. We constantly review certain
products and services and identify availability of sustainable
alternatives.
96
In 2014, we amended our procurement policy and have added
a clause on sustainable procurement. However, in 2015 we will
develop a separate code for responsible procurement to be
shared with our corporate suppliers as we expect that they follow
the same set of values in managing business that represent the
highest standards of quality, integrity, excellence, compliance
with the law and respect for the unique customs and cultures in
the countries in which they operate.
We strive to ensure that our corporate agreements are signed with
suppliers sharing with us the same commitments to sustainable
development. Amongst our corporate suppliers are the following:
Coffee, Julius Meinl
Tea, Dilmah
Rotana corporate office
signed an agreement with
Julius Meinl, a coffee
producer committed to
support sustainable farming
practices, faretrade as
well as rainforest alliance
certified coffees. The
company’s sustainable
packaging dramatically
reduced the amount of
materials used for all of our
packaging.
Our hotels food and
beverage outlets use Dilmah
tea. The tea producing
company has pioneered a
comprehensive commitment
to minimising impact on the
planet, fostering respect
for the environment and
ensuring its protection by
encouraging a harmonious
coexistence of man and
nature. Their core values
allow them to meet and
exceed our expectations of
sustainability.
Rooms Toiletries
Other initiatives
L’Occitane has a charter for the eco-design of its packaging,
focussed on reducing the weight of packaging, the amount of
wasted product and to control the ecological commitment of
their suppliers. We use L’Occitane amenities like shampoo and
lotion in bottles in 30% of our rooms and the packaging is
100% recyclable.
• Providing guests with reusable cloth laundry bags in 100% of
our rooms
• All UAE hotels use A4 office papers made from 100% postconsumer recycled materials as part of the Green Office
Programme, equivalent to 81% of total group A4 consumption
• Switching/replacing to zero-VOC paints
Chemicals
A corporate agreement has been signed with chemical provider
Ecolab. Our housekeeping, laundry, and food and beverage
departments in 97% of our hotels use Ecolab cleaning products
and detergents. Cleaning and laundry products are delivered in
concentrated form which reduce waste, water and energy.
Mattresses
Intercoil shares our commitment to guest’s health and safety.
The company’s social responsibility is derived from its mission
statement to be proactive in serving the consumer, society and
the environment. Being a leading manufacturer of orthopedic
beds and mattresses, Intercoil is committed to promoting healthy
sleep and increasing consumers’ awareness of its importance in
contributing to a healthy life, the company has invested recently
in several marketing and public awareness campaigns, such as the
‘Healthy Sleep Seminar’ and the ‘Healthy Kids Week’.
• Installing CFC and LED light bulbs in hotels
• Selecting Energy Star rated office equipment
• Serving Illy coffee, as declared by the company, ‘the world’s
first company to earn the Responsible Supply Chain Process
certification from DNV (Det Norske Vertias)’. The certification
attests to the sustainable practices of Illy’s supply chain, and in
particular, to the quality of Illy’s relationships with its suppliers:
the world’s highest-calibre coffee growers
• Using light weight plastic water bottles Rotana signed a
corporate agreement with Masafi in the UAE. The company has
a new light-weight 0.5 litre plastic bottles with 23% reduced
plastic and is less harmful to the environment, by ensuring
less carbon dioxide emission. The new bottles weigh just 13
grams instead of the original 16 grams. The new bottles will
produce 0.023 kilograms less carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions
per bottle. For HDPE closures used in water bottles, the weight
is reduced by 30% from 2.5 grams to 1.75 grams. The water
bottles’ shrink-wrap packaging is made of oxo-biodegradable
films, a significant step that reinforces the company’s
commitment to the environment
• Offering sustainably and responsibly sourced menu options,
replacing sustainable sea food selections. The hammour is
the most commercial fish in the UAE and it is dangerously
over-fished, causing it to decline beyond its sustainable level
of more than 80% since 1978 according to Emirates Wildlife
Society. Khalidya Palace Rayhaan by Rotana Abu Dhabi stopped
hammour service in all its outlets and distributes flyers together
with the menu to educate guests to think twice before ordering
this endangered fish in any other outlets outside the hotel
In 2014, we substituted 23 products
to more environmentally friendly
products.
Among the products that our hotels have substituted by
environmentally friendly products are A4 papers, bio degradable
garbage bags, takeaway disposal containers, napkins, tissue rolls
and ink cartridges.
97
Sustainable table
During the UAE Green Festival, 29 of our Rotana restaurants
participated in the festival by offering a sustainable menu to our
guests for a whole month. The sustainable menu recipes were
sourced from local, organic ingredients including locally sourced
yoghurt, Arabian Gulf prawns, locally caught sea bream, organic
tagliatelle, Emirati potato puree and local mountain honey.
Yas Island Rotana, UAE
Organic garden
The organic garden was set up on the hotel grounds, managed
directly by the chef and his team and supplied the hotel with
fresh seasonal produce such as Thai basil, mint, melons, water
spinach, cherry tomato, eggplant, tomatoes, and many other
cooking and aromatic herbs. This initiative was completely
self-driven, with the executive chef and his staff working on
non-operational hours, days off and even holidays – advancing
and experimenting with new techniques, varieties, and
planning menus in such a manner as to use produce directly in
the buffet. The hotel received the Best Sustainability Practice
Award for oganic garden.
Local Supplies
Over the past few years, we have become more conscious of the
environmental and social impact of the products we select from
our suppliers beside our commitment to develop local markets
in the countries we operate, through the collaboration with local
suppliers and contractors and by purchasing locally produced
supplies.
We mainly deal with locally registered supplier in the
base country. However, due to circumstantial exceptions,
approximately 10% of our suppliers are without a local presence
and goods are imported directly. In 2014 alone, we spent nearly
206.3 million USD with suppliers.
Among the products shifted to locally produced products are
dairy products, fruits and vegetables, fishes, eggs, and collaterals
printing services and other products.
Payments to
locally registered
suppliers/
contractors
98
Unit
2012
2013
2014
$
183.4 M
198 M
206.3 M
In 2014, we substituted 82 imported
products to locally produced products
in the country of operation.
Our targets for 2015
• Develop a sustainable procurement code
• Review the seafood products across our hotels and issue a
seafood policy
• Start screening our suppliers and contractors by a selfassessment questionnaire to assess their environmental,
labour, social and human rights practices as well as their
compliance with the code
• Develop a monitoring and reporting template to measure
hotels performance on sustainable procurement, local
supplies and products
• Substitute two imported products per hotel to locally
produced products
• Substitute two products per hotel to environmentally
friendly products
• Identify critically endangered species and substitute with
other less endangered species
Appendix A: Global Reporting Initiative
G4 Content Index
Key: n Full
l
Partial NV: Non-verified
Rotana did not seek external assurance for this report
G4
Coverage
omissions
Cross reference, direct answer,
page/link
Material aspects
(boundary)
External
assurance
Letter from Omer Kaddouri, President and CEO, P.07
Yes (All hotels)
NV
Strategy and analysis
G4-1
n
Organisational profile
G4-3
n
Rotana Hotel Management Corporation PJSC
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-4
n
“Our Company”, P.11
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-5
n
P.O. Box 95100, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E
T: +971 (0)2 699 4444
F: +971 (0)2 699 4445 |
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-6
n
Map of global portfolio, P. 13
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-7
n
Rotana Hotel Management Corporation is a private joint
stock company
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-8
n
Map of global portfolio, P. 13
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-9
n
“Our Company”, P.11
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-10
n
“Profile”, P. 56
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-11
n
Rotana follows local legislations in all countries of operation.
For example in Sudan and Egypt labour unions can be
formed, 6.9% of total colleagues
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-12
n
“Our Suppliers”, P. 96-97
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-13
n
There have been no significant changes structure
or ownership, beyond the ongoing acquisition and
development of properties: five new properties were added
to the portfolio, and four other properties were de-flagged
and excluded from the reporting scope
Yes (All hotels )
NV
G4-15
n
“Partnerships and Awards”, P.16-17
NV
Identified materials aspects and boundaries
G4-16
n
We are members and hold governance positions in several
organisations and institutions in the tourism sector, and as
part of our charitable activities. See section “Partnerships
and Awards”, P. 16-17
Yes (All hotels )
NV
G4-17
n
Data in this report includes all our properties unless
otherwise noted. It includes all the hotels listed in our
directory by countries on rotana.com excluding the three
new opened hotels in 2014 for not completing one full year
of operation (Hili Rayhaan by Rotana, Salalah Rotana Resort,
and Sedra Residence by Rotana)
Yes (All hotels )
NV
G4-18
n
“About this Report”, P. 05
“Materiality Assessment”, P. 35
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-19
n
“Materiality Assessment”, P.36
Yes (All hotels)
NV
99
G4-20
n
All material aspects selected in this report apply equally to all
of our hotels as listed in G4-17
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-21
n
All material aspects selected in this report apply equally to
our all of our hotels as listed in G4-17
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-22
n
There is no restatement of information from previous report
except the reporting cycle changed from annual to bi-annual
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-23
n
There is no significant change from previous reporting in the
scope and Aspect Boundaries of this report
Yes (All hotels)
NV
Stakeholders engagement
G4-24
n
Our primary stakeholders are listed in Our Stakeholders, P.32
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-25
n
“Our Stakeholders”, P. 32-33-34
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-26
n
“Our Stakeholders “, P. 32
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-27
n
The key topics that we believe are most important to our
stakeholders are reflected in the material issues we have
chosen to report this year. See section “Our Stakeholders “,
P. 33,34,36
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-28
n
Calendar year 2013 -2014
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-29
n
2012 annual report, which included the sustainability review
and data statements, covered calendar year 2012
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-30
n
Bi-Annual
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-31
n
P. 114
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-32
n
Appendix B: Global Reporting Initiative G4 Content Index
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-33
n
P. 05
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-34
n
“Our Governance“, P. 21-24
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-35
n
“Our Governance“, P. 23
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-36
n
“Our Governance“, P. 23
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-37
l
“Our Governance“, P. 21
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-38
n
“Our Governance“, P. 21-23-24
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-39
n
“Our Governance“, P. 21
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-40
l
“Our Governance“, P. 21-24
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-41
n
“Our Governance“, P. 21
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-49
n
“Our Governance“, P. 23
Yes (All hotels)
NV
n
“Code of Business Conduct and Ethics“, P. 25
Yes (All hotels)
NV
Cross reference, direct answer,
page/link
Material aspects
(boundary)
External
assurance
Report profile
Governance
Ethics and integrity
G4-56
Specific standards disclosure
G4
Coverage
omissions
Category: Economic
Economic performance
g4-EC1
l
“Our Company”, P. 11
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-EC4
n
No financial assistance was received from governments
Yes (All hotels)
NV
l
“Our Colleagues”, Fair Employment, P. 63
Yes (All hotels)
NV
Market presence
G4-EC5
100
G4-EC 6
n
“Our Communities, Nationalisation, P. 91
Yes (All hotels)
NV
“Our Suppliers”, Local Suppliers, P. 98
Yes (All hotels)
NV
Procurement practices
g4-EC9
n
Category: Environment
Materials
G4-EN 1
n
“Our Environment”, Materials, P. 75
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-EN2
l
“Our Environment”, Waste, Materials sections, P. 75-76
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-EN3
l
“Our Environment”, Energy Table, P. 71
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-EN5
n
“Our Environment”, Energy Table, P. 71
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-EN6
n
“Our Environment”, Energy, P. 71
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-EN 9
l
“Our Environment”, Water table, P. 73
Almost all our water is drawn from municipal water supply
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-EN 10
n
“Our Environment”, Water table, P. 73
Yes (All hotels)
NV
n
“Our Environment”, Biodiversity, P. 78-79
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4- EN 15
n
“Our Environment”, Energy and Carbon Reduction, P. 71
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-EN 20
n
“Our Environment”, Ozone depleting substances, P. 71
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-EN 22
l
All waste water is directed to the public sewage company in
the countries of operation
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-EN 23
n
“Our Environment”, Waste table, P. 75
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-EN 24
n
No significant water spills were noticed during the reporting
period
Yes (All hotels)
NV
n
“Our Governance ”, Compliance, P. 25
Yes (All hotels)
NV
Energy
Water
Biodiversity
G4- EN 13
Emissions
Effluents and waste
Compliance
G4-EN 29
Category: Social
Sub Category: Labour practices and decent work
Employment
G4-LA1
n
“Our Colleagues”, Colleagues Profile, P. 56-57
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-LA2
n
“Our Colleagues”, Fair Employment, P. 62-63
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-LA3
l
“Our Colleagues”, Fair Employment, P. 61
Yes (All hotels)
NV
“Our Colleagues”,
Promotions and Inter-Property Transfers, P. 61
Yes (All hotels)
NV
“Our Colleagues”, Welfare, Health and Safety, p.65.
Indicators cover only Abu Dhabi Hotels, all other hotels will
be included for 2014 reports
Yes (Abu Dhabi Hotels)
NV
Labour/management relations
G4-LA4
n
Occupational health and safety
G4-LA6
n
Training and education
G4-LA9
n
“Our Colleagues”, Learning and Development, P. 60
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-LA11
n
“Our Colleagues”, Learning and Development, P. 61
Yes (All hotels)
NV
101
Diversity and equal opportunity
G4-LA12
n
“Our Colleagues”, Fair Employment, P. 62
“Our Colleagues”, Profile, P. 57
Yes (All hotels)
NV
“Our Colleagues”, Fair Employment, P. 62
Yes (All hotels)
NV
“Our Colleagues”, Fair Employment, P. 63
–
NV
n
“Our Communities”, Contribution, P. 84
Yes (All hotels)
NV
n
“Our Governance”, Code of Business Conduct and Ethics,
P. 25
Yes (All hotels)
NV
n
“Our Governance”, Code of Business Conduct and Ethics,
P. 25
Yes (All hotels)
NV
“Our Governance”, Code of Business Conduct and Ethics,
P. 25
Yes (All hotels)
NV
Equal remuneration for women and men
G4-LA13
l
Category: Social
Sub category: Human rights
Forced or compulsory labour
G4-HR 6
l
Category: Social
Sub category: Society
Local communities
G4-SO1
Anti-corruption
G4-SO4
Public policy
G4-SO6
Anti-competitive behavior
G4-SO 7
n
Category: Social
Sub category: Product responsibility
Product and service labelling
G4-PR4
n
Rotana is not aware of any voluntary or regulatory
noncompliance issues related to products and services
Yes (All hotels)
NV
G4-PR5
n
“Our Guests”, Guest Satisfaction, P. 42
Yes (All hotels)
NV
n
A reporting system is implemented and monitored in each
hotel, however a mechanism for data gathering from all
hotels to get the total number of complaints, will be built in
2015
Yes (All hotels)
NV
n
Rotana is not aware of any significant fines received for
noncompliance with laws and regulations concerning the
provision and use of products and services
Yes (All hotels)
NV
Customer privacy
G4-PR8
Compliance
G4-PR9
For more information about Rotana Global Sustainability efforts or to share thoughts about this report please contact:
Christiane A Zeidan
Corporate Director of Environment, Health and Safety
Head of Corporate Sustainability Committee
[email protected]
102
Printed on 100% recycled paper using eco-friendly vegetable inks.
Rotana Hotel Management Corporation PJSC
P O Box 95100, Abu Dhabi, UAE
T: +971 (0)2 699 4444, F: +971 (0)2 699 4445
[email protected]
rotanaearth.com
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